


The Circle New York

by IlianaMystery



Series: Avenged [2]
Category: Fake News RPF, Gravity Falls, Penn Zero - Fandom
Genre: AU, Backstory, Betrayal, Broken Heart, Cheating, Coping with Death, Curses, Demons, F/F, F/M, Family time, Heartache, PTSD, Reuniting, Revenge, Romance, backstabbing, new start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 12:37:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 43,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11623692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IlianaMystery/pseuds/IlianaMystery
Summary: Part Two of Avenged. The MPA is alerted by the trouble that Vlurgen and Jennae have caused throughout Middleburg including Sashi's mental health declining and Alice's fateful death. They soon realize that their rogue former agent, Phyllis, has no idea what's actually going on in her new home and that it's up to them to get everything under as much control as they can without alerting the rest of their realm about the ensuing chaos. Unfortunately, the rest of the Other Side finds out about the chaos and for damage control, they enlist the help of The Circle New York. They are the output of The Circle of the Underworld and is composed of the ragtag team of abused and forgotten children of the members of The Circle. They are led by Sir Malfus de Olivier (John Oliver), Princess Echo Seville (Bjork), & Empress Jodi and the other main members are Sir Tyrus Adams (Stephen Colbert), Lady Satanya Benson (Samantha Bee), and Ayvah Kate's sister Lady Jessamy (Jessica Williams). But even this ragtag team of heroes has their own skeletons in the closet being half-breeds and all. But will they be able to get pass their dark deeds and past to come back together and work for the greater good of Middleburg and the multiverse?





	1. Agent Skylar Seville

**Author's Note:**

> Reminder: Mabel and Pacifica are married and live on The Other Side in a place called New Dronyx where the MPA headquarters is located. Their new names are Maribel and Paulina Starr. Also half-breeds are half human (or other species)/half demon hybrids.

“Queen Nathalia is having her annual dinner with your father and I as well as Queen Joy, Lady Michelle, Lord Gabriel, and Advisor Isa. You’re invited too. Would you like to come?”

“No thanks. I’m going to have to sit this one out. I have to make sure everything is okay in our realm and the Earthly realm.”

“Oh, Skylar, you’re always into your work. I’m glad you are but you need to take a break.”

“No thanks, Deondra. I’m fine. I promise.”

“Well, okay. If Jewel, Maribel, or Paulina calls, tell them we said hi. Adair and I will be on our way then.”

“Okay. Bye, have enough fun for me.”

I know Adair and Deondra thought I was weird. I knew that for sure. But I had many a reason why I wanted to stay behind. We were at peace right now in our realm and for the most part on Earth, but I knew that once we found peace, that peace would be short lived. That’s just the way life went for mortals and immortals alike. I also had a strange feeling that something was wrong in the multiverse but I had no idea what it was. But little did I know the answer would fall right out of the sky…

After I finished looking over all of the surveillance screens for the third time, I just slouched back in my chair and sighed a little to myself. I was the only one in the office for the day and I actually started to feel alone. Maribel started taking more days off ever since Paulina conceived, Jewel was on an undercover mission, and the other agents actually started taking advantage of their vacation days. But just like Deondra said, I was addicted to my work. But that was my conviction. I wanted to make sure the multiverse was in balance and ever since the Oregon Incident; I’ve been even more paranoid.

I even thought about leaving the office and returning home before I heard a noise coming from the break room. I went in and saw the back side of a man with short dark brown hair, pale skin, and the back rims of his glasses were showing, and he was wearing flannel and blue jeans with casual shoes. I was about to shoot him with my compact laser pistol before he sensed me, jumped back, and put his hands out.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your fire, Skylar,” he begged before he pushed his bangs back from his eyes.

“Uh! Malfus! You gave me a heart attack.”

“I’m sorry. But I had to tell you something.”

“We talked about sneaking up on people, didn’t we? And couldn’t your news have waited?”

“No, it couldn’t have. It’s urgent. And I didn’t sneak up on you. I was just trying to find a bite to eat in here.”

“They ran out of food in New York?”

“No, smarty pants. And I don’t see why you’re giving me an attitude. You’re in the office alone on a Friday afternoon. I guess I’m not the only one convicted to my work,” he taunted before he took a bite out of a passionfruit sitting on the counter. “Wow, this is a really sweet one. This must be my lucky day.”

“I swear I forget you don’t always wear a suit.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m on vacation now. I’ve been back and forth between New York, New Dronyx, and the Underworld.”

“Wow, you are so nosy.”

“It’s my job. I’m an honorary MPA agent in this realm and a funny political satire TV host on Earth. But where are Adair and Deondra? I thought they would at least be here.”

“Yes, and the charismatic leader of The Circle New York. But anyway, they went to Queen Nathalia’s annual dinner. I was invited, but I didn’t want to go without Jewel or Maribel or Paulina. They’re my sisters and I miss them.”

“Yes, I know. But that’s weird considering the fact that Maribel and Paulina are married,” he moaned before he took another bite out of the passionfruit.

“Whatever, John William.”

“Do you always call me that when you’re mad at me?” he teased before he did a puppy dog face.

“Will you ever stop being extra?”

“No. That’s my natural setting.”

“Whatever. I’m going back to my post.”

“Wait, I’ll follow you. I still have to tell you the news.”

“Okay, passionfruit face. Don’t wait up.”

 

I swear Malfus was like my annoying little brother. But we were a family…a really strange family. But that’s only because Adair and Deondra were black, Maribel was Jewish, Paulina were white, and Jewel and I were blue elves. And Malfus is a half-breed demon posing as a normal…well somewhat normal British meatsack on Earth whenever he wasn’t in this realm. It was indeed strange, but I loved my family regardless. They were all I had. But he followed me back to my surveillance room, while still eating the rest of the passionfruit.

“Wow, it’s a ghost town in here.”

“I’m aware,” I remarked before I sat down and turned the screens back on. “I don’t even know why I’m still here. Nothing’s going on right now.”

“I would beg to differ. I don’t know why your screens are false though. They should have a lot of red blinking dots especially in Quadrant 4, District 9,” he insisted before he blew up the map and pointed it out to me.

“Nothing’s going on there. The screens would have told me.”

“Yeah, but something tells me someone snuck in here and manipulated your screens. A simple signal disruptor could do the trick. I would check under your desk.”

“I assure you there is nothing under my desk, but fine…I’ll look anyway.” I felt under my desk until I felt a plump and long thing sticking to the roof of the table. I ripped it off and pulled it out to see it was…just as Malfus said…a signal disruptor.

“Wow, and you thought I was joking.”

“I hate when you’re right, John.”

“Oh, so you dropped a name.”

“I’m still annoyed with you, but thanks. That was helpful…” But as soon as I said that, my screens started to blink and spazz…then some went black and others went gray until finally, the screens went back on the map and a bunch of blinking red dots began to appear all over Quadrant 4, District 9.

“Oh no. Oh fuck! Why did we have to make this discovery while Adair and Deondra are gone?!”

“Now you see how I felt when I had to fill in for Stewart during the worst times possible.”

“Oh my gosh, here we go again. Yes, you were such a good friend to him."

“Whatever, Sky. As long as the humans believe Jacob is Stewart, we’re in the clear.”

“Well, enough with that. What’s your news?”

"Alice is dead now.”

“What?! What are you talking about?”

"Alice is dead. What part do you not understand?"

"I can't believe it. Well, what is the rest of your news? I'm sure it can't be worse than that.”

“Well, the biggest news is that Alice is dead now. That really upset me. I haven’t seen her in months and I was planning on giving her a visit today…but I can’t do that anymore.”

“Well, do you at least know about the twins?”

“Oh, yeah. I do. I wanted to see them too.”

“But who killed her and how do you know that?”

“Vlurgen.”

“What?! How?! The guardians put a barrier around Earth that she couldn’t penetrate.”

“I don’t know how, but she found a way. And she didn’t just kill Alice. She is also making Sashi go mad. And get this, Mirajane is helping her.”

“What?! Why?”

“She wants Vlad back. I don’t see why though. She made him exile me and dethroned him. He would be a fool to want her back…despite Alice’s death.”

“I can’t believe this. I wonder if Jewel knows.”

“I’m sure she does. Mira isn’t that smart. She always talks to Vlurgen about their plot in front of her.”

“I still can’t believe we made this discovery while Adair and Deondra are gone. I have to alert them and all of the ambassadors of Earth, rulers of our realm, and the other agents…” 

But after I said that, the screen blinked and came back on before a pop up appeared.

“Looks like that’s Jewel now,” he said before smacking his lip.

“Hey, Jewel,” I greeted after I glared at Malfus and answered the call. “What’s up? Is her majesty being annoying again?”

“She’s always been annoying. I hate being her advisor…but enough about my troubles. She just left with her friends and Xander is with Ayvah, so I can tell you what I just found out.”

“Well, there’s no need for that,” he remarked. “I already told your sister the news.”

“Malfus? What are you doing here?”

“I was bored at home. I’m on vacation now.”

“Don’t you have a baby to look after now?”

“You follow the human tabloids?”

“It’s better than listening to Lady Montague complaining when her friends aren’t around.”

“Well, enough about that. What’s the news?”

“What all did Malfus tell you?”

“He told me that Vlurgen killed Alice and somehow made her way to Earth despite the Guardian’s force field around Earth. He also said that Mira is a part of her diabolical plot and he’s making Xiomara go mad.”

“So you don’t know the exact details?”

“That’s all the information I know. I’m just a fly on the wall.”'

“Well, I’ve been overhearing those two for the longest as well as what she tells her friends. Get this, Vlurgen got to Earth with help from Shamael and she somehow got a hold of the missing QPC. I don’t know how she got a hold of it though.”

“How? The only person that would know how to steal the QPC was one of our agents.”

“I guess someone went rogue. Maybe it’s the same agent that stole the missing records.”

“You might be on to something, Malfus. We have to put the office on lockdown then until the rogue agent fesses up.”

“No, that’s too harsh, Skylar. We’ll just wait it out for now.”

“But wait, why did Shamael help her?”

“He wants Xiomara back.”

“Sashi?”

“Precisely. He misses his daughter and wants her back. He had no idea that Vlurgen was going to make her go mad. He’s just a pawn in her scheme. There is another pawn though. She’s called “Blonde Birdy”.”

“Hmm, I wonder who that could be?”

“The only person I could think of is Paulina.”

“What?! Malfus, you’re crazy. Paulina would never help Vlurgen.”

“Skylar’s right, Malf. Why are you being so mean?”

“Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I hit a nerve.”

“Anyway, Vlurgen preys on the weak. That’s why Shamael is blindly helping her. But you’ll never guess who else was helping her.”

“Who?”

“Duchess Jennae. Mira made her help her. She accompanied her in Middleburg.”

“Oh, so that’s why there are two blinking dots together all over the map instead of one. That’s make sense. But how did that innocent girl get involved with that?”

“Mira was guilt tripping her since she raised her. But she stood up for herself and has since quit.”

“Of course she would do that. She’s the master at manipulating people’s emotions. If only that poor girl knew the truth.”

“The truth about what?” Jewel curiously asked.

“Mira had her parents murdered after she took over. She didn’t want competition over the throne. So she adopted little Jennae to brainwash her into the perfect, obedient child. Of course, it didn’t work. I made sure that both Xander and Jennae would reject her eventually.”

“What did you do, Malf?”

“I gave Xander his accent out of revenge and I also helped set him up with Ayvah. I got to look out for those kids. Someone has too. I’m glad Jennae stood up to that bitch finally. She’s better off on Earth. I’m going to set her up with the perfect guy for her.”

“Wow, so you’re their little puppet master?”

“I guess you can say that, Jewel.”

“Wow, that’s so sweet. You really have a heart of gold despite being Tiberius’ son.”

“Well, this is all touching, but is there anything else we need to know?”

“Oh, right. Vlurgen has since enlisted new help.”

“Should we be worried or really worried?”

“Really worried, Malf. She enlisted the help of Sir William.”

“What?!”

“Really?! I hate that yellow bastard,” Malfus scoffed. “I shouldn’t be surprised though. Vlurgen was actually with him for some time after Shamael left her. But Shamael’s better off with Jodi. They make a nice couple.”

“That’s the other thing. Shamael is falling back in love with Vlurgen. He’s been sending her letters and he even slept with her recently.”

“Oh, no. I hope Jodi doesn’t find out. The Underworld will fall apart if she does.”

“I think you might be right, Malf. But we have to keep this in this office. No one on the outside can know until we get more information. We don’t need a mass panic within this dimension or the rest of the multiverse.”

“I agree, Sky. But I just realized something. Why are you just finding this stuff out from me and Malf?”

“Someone jammed my signal with a signal disruptor. Malfus helped me figure that one out. My screens went insane after I uninstalled it. They’re pairs of red dots all over Quadrant 4, District 9.”

“Oh, that was Vlurgen’s goons, Sergey and Boris.”

“Figures,” Malf scoffed in his fake Russian accent.

“I hate that green bitch,” I moaned. “Anyway, I hate that we figured that out while Adair and Deondra are gone.”

“Wait, where are those two?”

“Queen Nathalia’s Annual Dinner.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Why didn’t you go?”

“I didn’t want to go with you or Maribel or Paulina.”

“You could have just brought Malf.”

“I’ll pass,” I whispered under my breath.

“I heard that,” he said in a teasing tone.

“I wanted you to hear that.”

“If you wanted me to really hear that, you would have been louder.”

“Whatever. I just can’t believe I didn’t catch this. I’m usually much better at my job than this.”

“Don’t sweat it, Sky. We all have bad days sometimes.”

“Yeah, I mean I remember when I bombed this bad…I almost got stabbed with a broken wine glass by a disgruntled, fat drunk bastard. At least you don’t have that at stake.”

“I just love your Earth stories, Malfus. But this is about me. I don’t bomb…ever.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself, Sky. Ease up a little. Oh, she’s back. Shit. Well, I have to go. I’ll talk to you later. Remember, you need to lighten up a little.”

“Okay, Jewel. Bye,” I said before I hung up. “I can’t believe this. I don’t know how I’m going to break this to them.”

 

“Break what to who?” a voice asked before the person behind it came into the light. She just stood there looking befuddled and just twisted the ends of her short, curly brunette hair before I answered her.

“Oh, hey Maribel.”

“What are you doing here, Malfus?”

“I got bored at home.”

“How? Don’t you…”

“Don’t go there. Don’t go there."

“What? What is he going on about? And what is this news you have to break to Adair and Deondra?”

“Why are you here? I thought you wanted to be with Paulina while she’s pregnant.”

“Oh, I do. I love her so much, but she can be a bit much now. Those hormones are making her rage. I left after she fell asleep.”

“I warned you about that.”

“Okay, so you were right, Malf. Don’t rub it in. I needed to get out of the house and Deondra told me you were here alone. So I came to check on you.”

“Well, thanks sis,” I chirped before I hugged her. “You’re so considerate.”

“Um, what about me? I’ve kept you company this whole time.”

“You only came here to raid our break room fridge and get away from it all.”

“No, I came to tell you the crucial information you know now too. You wouldn’t even know about the signal disruptor without me.”

“Get him his credit, Sky. He’s going to have a temper tantrum,” Maribel teased.

“Fine, you have been a lot of help, Malf. Thank you.”

“No, no thank you.”

“So what about this news?”

“Here you go,” Malfus said before he handed Maribel a notepad. “I kept records of everything we just went over before you came.”

“Um, okay. Thanks,” she moaned before she took the notepad from him. “What?! How did this happen?!”

“Vlurgen got a hold to the missing QPC.”

“That’s not the only thing that shocks me. Why is she working with Bill?!”

“They were an item a long time ago. They’re still friends. And she helped him with the Oregon Incident,” Malfus explained.

“Wow, this is news to me. I wondered how she got a hold of the QPC though. Only the agents of this agency knew where it was hidden.”

“We think it’s the same agent that made off with the stolen records.”

“Oh, really? I think that’s a little far-fetched.”

“Well, I’m not the one accusing Paulina for working with Vlurgen, am I Malfus?”

“What?! Why would you assume that my precious wife would ever work with that green bitch?”

“I’m not saying she’s willing. I just said she’s probably being used as a pawn. I mean stranger things have happened.”

“Paulina would never do such a thing. But I can’t believe all of this is happening. I don’t think I have the heart to break this to Adair and Deondra or Queen Joy for that matter.”

“Well, someone has to tell them…but I’m a little afraid myself.”

“I’ll tell them. They need to know and I’ve done crazier things. Also, could I stay with you for a little while, Sky?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m getting bored at my place.”

“Your brother and sister live in the apartment down the street. And Eric and Isaac are your little man servants always at your beck and call.”

“So? Besides it’s a yes or no question.”

“Fine, you can stay with me since Jewel is prisoner in Naaru. The things I do for family.”

“Oh, thank you, Sky!” he cheered before he hugged me. “I owe you one.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Oh, you guys. Well, thanks for being so brave, Malf.”

“It’s nothing. I’m ages older than you two so I’m very expendable. It’s cool.”

“I just wonder how they are going to take the news though…”


	2. Sir Malfus Arjun-Padma de Olivier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lady Genevieve was, in her past life, XJ-9 or Jenny Wakeman, a 'normal' robot teenage girl from Tremorton. After the death of all of her loved ones, the MPA took her in and Queen Nathalia, since she was an android before, took pity on her and let her live with her before Myrim (the highest being of the Other Side) gave her immortality and a humanoid body like she did with Nathalia before her.

Mornings in New Dronyx were much different than mornings in New York City. The countryside where Skylar and Jewel stayed was smog and debris free with a clear view of lush green and the sunlight. It was nice to just see fresh, clean air every time I came…something I wasn’t used to between the smog of NYC and London and the bleakness and darkness of the Underworld that I knew for so long. But the nice thing about waking up here was that I was in my adopted sister’s room and it was right by the kitchen and I could smell whatever Skylar was making. I rushed out of bed and ran to the kitchen to find her flipping pancakes and making scrambled eggs and bacon in separate pans simultaneously. She kept yawning and humming to herself before she noticed me behind her and set the pans down before turning to face me.

“Good morning…wait, are you wearing Jewel’s robe?”

“Well, good morning to you too.”

“Um, why are you wearing that?”

“Because I’m not decent.”

“You could have just thrown something on. But I guess that will do. Only Alice would like you in the nude. I’ll just burn it and replace it before Jewel gets back.”

“I was hungry…so I just threw her robe on.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just burn it and replace it like I said.”

“You could just wash it. I’m not diseased. I don’t get sick.”

“No, no. Burning will suffice. Like I said, only Alice wouldn’t mind.”

“Well, then. Actually, now that I think about it...she’s probably gone back to her natural form…and I’ll never be able to reach her just like Mama Padma before me. I might have a heart of gold, but I’m still half demon.”

“Natural form? What do you mean?”

“You didn’t know? Alice is really an angel. Her real name is Miracle. She just has a pleasing aura to people and that’s why so many love her. She’s a sign of hope for everyone. She’s such a nice and sweet soul.”

“Well, I’m going to go shower. Enjoy breakfast.”

“Do you have Earl Grey tea here?,” I asked before she left.

“Uhh! You’re such a British meatsack. Yeah, it’s in the top cabinet over the sink. Don’t make a mess.”

“I’m not five, Sky. I know how to make tea. I’ve had plenty of practice.”

“But you act like it,” she remarked before she left the room. I just scoffed and went on making my tea in a kettle before just throwing on a t-shirt and shorts to eat in since I apparently desecrated Jewel’s robe enough. Once I got back to the room, I just put together a plate of everything she made. But just as I got comfortable, the doorbell rang.

“Oh, who could that be at this early of an hour?” Now the person behind the door I wasn’t suspecting. It was Queen Nathalia’s Head Advisor, Lady Genevieve or as everyone called her, Ginny. She was just standing there with her pasty white arms crossed and her blue painted lips were in a pout. I guess she wasn’t expecting me either because she just stared at me for a good minute with her piercing crystal blue eyes.

“Malfus?! What are you doing here?”

“Funny, I could ask you the same question,” I remarked before I took a sip of tea.

“You’re not funny in this realm, John. Now where is Skylar? I need to talk to her,” she declared before she tried to get passed me. I didn’t let her pass though.

“What are you doing? Let me in. This isn’t your house.”

“I know. But you just came…unexpectedly and at this ungodly time. You’re lucky I was even up to answer the door.”

“Seriously, John, I don’t have time for games. Where’s Skylar?”

“She’s washing up as we speak. You could keep me company in the kitchen if you would like.”

“I would usually pass up an offer like that, but I do really need to talk to Skylar, so I’ll deal with you until she’s done freshening up.”

“Well, it’s always nice seeing you too, Ginny,” I huffed before I closed the door behind her.

When I turned around to walk back to my food, she just sat at the table with her arms crossed and her lips pouted again and didn’t even bother to talk to me or even look at me until I tapped my spoon by her and made her jump.

“Uhh! John!!! What did you do that for?!”

“You know I’m a living and breathing person, right? I have feelings despite being half demon. Isn’t kind of rude acting like that in front of another person.”

“You would know all about that since you started your little human experiment in England…one of the snootiest places on Earth.”

“Okay, first of all, it wasn’t a little human experiment…it’s called the Earth Pact and secondly, yes it wasn’t a foolproof plan…and my host parents were about as friendly to me as my own old man, but it worked out.”

“Yeah, I guess so. What’s taking her so long?”

“So, how was your day?” I asked in a teasing tone.

“Great,” she huffed.

“Would you like something to eat?”

“No, it’s fine. Sky hasn’t eaten yet.”

“I’m wondering what’s taking her so long too now.” Luckily, as soon as I said that, I heard the door tumblers shake and she came out. But when she came back into the kitchen, she didn’t even realize that Ginny was even there.

“Okay, I think I’ve been cleansed enough. So how’s everything?”

“Good,” I assured with a smile before I went back to my tea.

“Of course, you got your Earl Grey like you wanted. And you actually decided to put on clothes. How convenient.”

“Well, we do have a guest.”

“What…oh, I didn’t see you there. Hey, Ginny.”

“Don’t ‘Hey, Ginny’ me, where were you? Why weren’t you at Queen Nathalia’s dinner?”

“I thought Deondra would have told you. I wanted to stay behind and make sure everything was balanced in the multiverse.”

“Yeah, she told me that but I’ve known you for quite some time. There’s always more to the story than what’s being told with you.”

“She also misses her sisters,” I said before taking the last sip of my tea.

“Thank you, John. I should have known Mr. Nosy Half Breed would tell me the truth. That’s not a good excuse though. Queen Nathalia was so disappointed. She really wanted you to come. She already knew Maribel and Paulina weren’t going to come and Jewel can’t. You know I hate seeing her sad. We former robots and androids have to stick together.”

“Well, Ginny, if it makes you feel any better…we did find out some crucial information.”

“What type of crucial information?”

“Ginny, um Skylar must have bumped her head while she was showering. You know, she is quite the klutz.”

“Oh really, coming from the guy who broke his nose on the first day of his first biggest gig.”

“Hey, hey, that was an unforeseen circumstance. That’s alright though. But I’m getting off track, could I speak to you in private,” I asked before I pulled her back into her room and closed the door.

“By the way, an unforeseen circumstance is an accident. It was an accident and you tripped and fell like an idiot on TV.”

“That’s alright though. Those twenty year olds on social media are madly in love with this idiot including 24-year-old Alice Rose Van Winkle de Olivier. Yeah, that’s right. She took my name too, so suck it Skylar Seville!”

“I just love how you always resort back to your goofy 12 year old self to hide how broken you really are inside. But I guess only Alice really touched that part of you.”

“Alice was not a normal fangirl. I know she would still care about me even if I wasn’t in the public eye. She’s just different. No other living creature could touch the hearts of all of the broken half breeds affiliated with my version of The Circle like her. She’s praised for her boldness and kind heart…like Empress Jodi before her. I mean Jodi always treated me better than the other demons too whenever I go back home. I mean I’m not perfect. I’m flawed but I didn’t ask to be born this way. I didn’t ask to be born this way!” I screamed before I started to cry. “I’m only one creature. I’ve tried and I’ve tried but no one takes me seriously here. Why do you think I act like a human on Earth? I’m more accepted there.”

“Wow, I guess I really hit a nerve. I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget that you’re more human than demon mentally and emotionally. I mean everyone just thinks it’s because you’ve been posing as a human for 39 years, but it’s been since your birth. Did your mother ever tell you stories about Earth? Is that why you were so curious about it?”

“Mama Padma always told me about Earth. She really missed home. The only reason why she stayed with my father is because she sacrificed her life for her brother’s so that her parents could have a rightful heir to their fortune. She was a woman and she couldn’t properly inherit the fortune and her brother had to pass the family name down. Her brother died unexpectedly and my father revived him as long as my mother agreed to be his wife. So she signed herself away and lived in misery with my father until she was sent to Elysium. I got her accent…and her nose. My brother and sister take after my father more. I’m not a normal halfbreed like them…I’m more of a curse in a semi-stable form trying to  
pretend to be a blessing for all of the human race and non purebloods alike. But enough about that,” I moaned before I tried to wipe away so tears.

“I’m sorry to hear that. If the others only knew how badly they hurt you…especially your father.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. But we shouldn’t tell Ginny the news just yet. We don’t need her freaking out and blabbing to Queen Nathalia. I haven’t even told Adair and Deondra yet.”

“That is true. Fine, you do have to tell them first. I’ll go fix this and you need to take a shower and get in a suit or something because as soon as she leaves, we’re going to the office.”

“Aye, aye Captain Sky Seville.”

“Whatever, Malf,” she giggled before she left.

So I did what she wanted me too and went to take a quick shower before I went to meet them back in the kitchen. But as soon as I walked back in, Ginny was gone and Skylar was munching away at her half of breakfast and drinking her black coffee.

“Um, where’d Ginny go? She had to leave so soon?” I sarcastically asked before I sat down again.

“Nathalia paged her. I don’t know why though. But, you do clean up nicely.”

“Why, that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all morning, Skye.”

“I feel bad for making you emotional earlier,” she assured before taking another sip of coffee.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I forgive you.”

“Okay. Well, I’m ready to go if you are.”

“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s break the news to mom and dad.”

“Very funny, Malf.”

 

The MPA Headquarters wasn’t very far from Skylar and Jewel’s countryside home so it didn’t take us too long to walk there. When we got there, the office was actually full of people and they were all working at their own pace and pacing around. Skylar’s surveillance office was on the top floor, so we took the elevator up and went to find Adair and Deondra who were also on the top floor usually. Skylar found them first and they were going through the screens that were still blinking red dots all over the  
district and quadrant.

“Adair, Deondra, I can explain,” Skylar quickly interjected.

“Skye, when did you learn about this? And why didn’t you tell us immediately?” Adair asked.

“I…I…”

“Just tell us, sweetie. We won’t get mad.”

“It’s just…I didn’t…”

“It’s not her fault,” I quickly interjected. “Vlurgen found a way to install a signal disruptor under the desk so we couldn’t follow her tracks. Actually, Skylar found it and put it in her drawer.”

“It’s not there anymore,” she said after going to her desk and looking for it.

“Did it just magically disappear?” Adair asked.

“No, I had it. I swear.”

“Just forget about it, Skye. But this information stays between us. We don’t need to cause mass panic.”

“I understand, Deondra.”

“So you found out about this while we were at the dinner?”

“Yes, Adair, and I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Okay. Well, I guess Joy, Michelle, and Gabriel know by now.”

“We actually came to tell you about what happened, but I see you already know now.”

“We found your notes and we just talked to Jewel, Malf. But we appreciate your efforts.”

“Of course,” I quickly answered.

“So I guess I could have told Ginny,” she moaned.

“No, you can’t. We don’t need mass panic. Nathalia can come to the proceedings though. We need to speak to Michelle and Gabriel, ASAP.”

“Agreed. You are free to go, Skye. Thank you for your valiant efforts, though,” Deondra assured.

“No problem. Well, we’ll be on our way.”

“See you at dinner, Skylar,” Deondra greeted before we left.

 

“I really blew it, didn’t I?” Skylar asked on our way back to her home.

“No, I don’t think so. I think Adair is just frustrated, is all. I don’t think he’s mad at you personally either. You can talk about it over dinner.”

“Wait, you aren’t gonna be here?”

“No, I’m forced to spend some time with Hudson so I’m not as bad of a father as my old man. But I also have to talk to Jodi. I haven’t seen her in a while and she’s the closest thing I have to Alice right now.”

“I understand. Well, I guess this is where we part ways.”

“I guess so. Stay strong, Skye. I know they’ll forgive you. They have no right to be mad at you,” I assured before I hugged her.

“Thanks, Malf. I’ll see you around.”

“See you around.”

 

After we parted ways, I set out to go back home to the Underworld. And honestly, I was happy to go back only because I was going to see Jodi again and she was the nicest person towards me whenever I did go back home. But I did always try to keep a low profile, so I would always fly over in bat mode (although I always wore a black robe when I was in my demon form) and see what was going on around me at aerial view. 

Once I hit the atmosphere, I went straight into bat mode and flew into the Underworld Palace and perched myself on one of the marble slabs that hung from the ceiling. I was there for five minutes before I saw Jodi walking along with a demoness that I never saw before. She had long black hair that was pulled back in a French braid and her green eyes were soulless at best. Her black nails were long and curved in and her stature was tall and skinny. She had a black dress draped over her cobalt blue skin and she was carrying a fruit basket in her hands. They were talking, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. But I did watch her give the fruit basket to Jodi before she bowed before her and walked away. I was a bit suspicious of it all, considering the fact that the only blue demons that were living or born in the Underworld were my family and a few members of the Circle…as far as I was aware of. But my stealth was broken when I slipped from my perch and fell down before turning back into my demon form. And Jodi was not pleased with my spying.

“Malfus?! What the hell?! Where did you come from? Were you spying on me?”

“Yes, I apologize, your highness,” I assured before I bowed before her.

“Enough with your groveling. We’re friends. You don’t have to do all that. But no spying.”

“Of course.”

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“I wanted to see you again. It’s been a minute.”

“Yes, it certainly has. How’s your life been? I see you’ve been getting more and more popular on Earth.”

“Well, that is true…but I don’t care about that. But I guess it’s nice.”

“Hmm, so modest. Well, I need to bring this fruit basket to the kitchen but you can feel free to follow me. We do have some catching up to do.”

“Well, actually, could I take that?,” I asked before I tried to take it, but she slapped my hand away.

“Why?”

“Because, you shouldn’t have to hold anything. You’re a queen after all and I’d be honored to carry it for you.”

“Sir Malfus, I’m not Queen Elizabeth II…but fine, you can hold it if you want,” she assured before she handed it to me. And as soon as she did, I ran away with it before I bumped into one of her guards. He picked me up with one hand and took the basket from me with another.

“Where do you think you’re going, Malfus?”

“Um, nowhere, Azrael, sir.”

“That’s right. This is yours, Empress,” he said before he dropped the basket in her arms.

“Thank you, Azar. And you can drop him.”

“Of course, your majesty,” he said before he dropped me by my cloak.

“Come with me, Malf. And don’t even think about taking my gift again.”

“Of course, Jodi. Won’t happen again.”

“Good. Let’s proceed. Now why were you trying to steal my gift?”

“With all due respect, I don’t trust that demoness that gave you that gift. It could be Shalone in disguise for all we know. You know how much she hates you. And besides, I’ve never seen a blue demon like her around before.”

“Shalone is imprisoned in the second dimension where she belongs. She is no threat to me right now and this demoness’ name is Hecate by the way. But anyway, my biggest problem is Vlurgen right now but I’m pretty sure you’re aware of her marriage to my husband that he told me nothing about!”

“Ain’t that the truth? But yeah, I was aware…I just figured Shamael was man enough to tell you.”

“Well, obviously he wasn’t.”

“I apologize, Jodi. I’m literally the only one of them that never had a relationship before.”

“But you did on Earth before Alice, right?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay…”

“But I still wouldn’t eat out of that. This Hecate might be working for Vlurgen. I don’t trust it.”

“She’s harmless. She was only paying homage to her queen. But I will give you a passion fruit for your trouble. You need not worry about me, Malf. I can take care of myself.”

“Fine, I’ll back off, Jodi,” I whimpered before I took the fruit from her. “I just care about you, you know.”

“I know. But I’ll be okay.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be on my way.”

“Okay. Be safe. Say hi to Hudson for me.”

“I will,” I assured before I walked out of the palace.

“I guess I’ll see you around, Azrael?”

“Yeah, I guess so, Malfus. Just stay out of trouble, because I can go to Earth to straight you out if need be.”

“There’s no need for that, friend. I promise.”

“Whatever. Tell your boy I said hi.”

“Will do.”

I got past the barrier between the Underworld and Earth before I felt a stinging sensation on my right hand. The pain was unbearable and I wondered why it hurt that bad until I noticed the fruit in my hand was slowly rotting away and dripping in my hand leaving black marks all over my skin where the juice dripped on it. As soon as the whole fruit rotted away, I started to feel weak and my whole form became numb and suddenly I found myself crashing into the asphalt below me. I landed on my back but then everything went black.

Once I opened my eyes again, I noticed I was somehow in my room, but it still hurt to move and my whole body felt numb. I looked down at my hand and lower arm and noticed that it was the only part of my skin that was still cobalt blue but it was marked from my wrist to my elbow with black bruises. Next thing I knew, my sister came running into the room with a tea kettle and cup.

“Oh my gosh! You’re awake. I’m so happy!” she chirped before she ran over to hug me.

“You know we can’t die, right?”

“Oh, I know, smarty pants.”

“What happened anyway?”

“No, no. Don’t get up.”

“Why not?”

“Because your body is still numb. How in the hell did you manage to expose yourself to beeazalbubdamum?”

“Wait, what?! That’s what that was! I knew it. That dirty demoness Hecate! I knew she couldn’t be trusted! I have to warn Jodi!”

“No, no. You can’t. This exposure is gonna last for 24 hours. You need to stay and rest until that time is up. And what are you going on about anyway?”

“This blue demoness that I have never seen before gave Jodi a fruit basket…and the fruit is contaminated with beeazalbubdamum. I told her she should have let me throw it out. But she wouldn’t listen to me. No one listens to me…what a shock.”

“Oh yeah, well tell that to your millions of horny twenty year old fans.”

“Touché. But never mind that. Someone has to warn Jodi. That Hecate is working for Vlurgen probably or she really is Shalone in disguise.”

“I’ll tell Krishna to get in contact with her then. You need to slow down and rest.”

“Wait, I forgot about Hudson.”

“We got that taken care of too. Kate dropped him off a while ago. I was watching him…he likes Auntie Priya and he stayed quiet enough for you to sleep. Eric is watching him now.”

“Oh, thank you. She’s upset, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, but she’ll get over it.”

“Okay. Can you call Eric in then? So I can see him.”

“Sure. Krishna, Eric!” she called from the doorway. They both ran in as soon as they heard her yell too.

“Yes, Priya?” Krishna asked.

“Well, for starters, Eric that’s not how you hold a baby.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never mind. I’ll take him,” she insisted before she took him from Eric and held him properly.

“Eric, do everyone a favor and not have children. And this is how you hold a baby. I’m surprised he stayed calm with you.”

“I’m not a bad babysitter.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Hey, brother. How are you feeling?”

“I guess better. I’m still numb and I still feel weird.”

“Well, at least you’re awake, master.”

“Yeah, there’s that.”

“Krishna, I need you to get a hold of Her Infernal Majesty. Arjuna got poisoned by a fruit contaminated with beeazalbubdamum and apparently he got it from a fruit basket given to her by a demoness named Hecate who may or may not be Shalone in disguise or working for Vlurgen.”

“I’ll be right on it, sister. Get better, brother,” he assured before he left the room.

“See. He’s gonna tell her, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Could you just let him rest by me? He keeps on reaching out for me and I can’t even hold him.”

“Oh, right. He wants to be by daddy,” she teased before he set him by me.

“Thanks. Hey, Hudson. Hey buddy,” I said before I hugged him closer to me by my uninjured arm.

“Aww. This is too cute. Well, I’ll let you two have your father/son time. Just call me if you need anything. But you need to rest and trust that Krishna is gonna take care of business.”

“I know, Priya. I trust him. That’s all I can do right now.”


	3. Sir Julious Krishna-Padma de Olivier

My journey to the Underworld the next morning was long, but not too perilous or boring. Honestly, I had no idea why Arjuna went back home as frequently as he did. I had no inclination to go back home ever unless I really needed to. But it was nice to see some of my fellow demons again. As soon as I got to the entrance of the palace, I caught a glimpse at the giant Azrael who was playing with the three-headed Hellhound, Sybaris, his pet. Once I got to the gate, he noticed me and came over to let me in.

“Well, look who we have here.”

“Hey, Azrael. How’s Sybaris doing?”

“Oh, she’s good. I just fed her and she wanted to play.”

“Wow, you love that hound just as much as my brother loves his dog, Hoagie.”

“Speaking of your brother, he was just here. He tried to steal Her Infernal Majesty’s gift.”

“I heard. I actually would like to see her. Is she available?”

“She is. I don’t know where she is, though. I guess you can look for her on your own accord though.”

“I’ll do just that. Thank you, Azrael,” I said before Sybaris stepped before me and threw her main head down before me.

“Umm…”

“She wants you to pet her. Just do it and she’ll let you go.”

“Okay...” I moaned before I started petting her. She obviously liked it, because she rolled over and licked me with her three huge tongues and forced me to pet her other two heads. But then she let me pass her.

Once I got to the inner corridors of the palace, I noticed that there were barely any noises and the lights were dim as I walked on. I wondered if anyone was home including Jodi. I made my way up the stairs and noticed a buzzing sound coming from a slightly opened door and opened it further to see a crackling and popping giant screen in front of me and an arm dangling from the outside of an office chair, tightly grasping a remote. I walked a little closer and noticed that it was Her Infernal Majesty in the chair and she was barely moving and looked both in awe and anger. I wanted to tap her and say something to her, but I didn’t and just looked at her for at least two minutes before I got the courage to  
tap her and talk to her. So I lightly tapped her and she didn’t move until I backed away slowly. She turned her chair around and just glared at me before I said,

“Your majesty?”

And instead of her not answering me, she just dropped the remote from her hand, slowly picked herself up from slouching in the chair and moved her mouth to tell me something before she screamed,

“What?!!!”

Her shrieking broke the glass on the windows, the lightbulbs, and some of the screens and suddenly, she started levitating and fire came from her hands. She slowly went into her demon form in front of me and stared right at me with her terrifying glowing green eyes. Suddenly, she started shrieking again and I just jumped behind a table to hide.

“Shamael!!!!!” she shrieked.

Then everything started rising and spinning around her going through this emotional breakdown and I was exposed and had nowhere to hide. I even tried to leave, but she shut the door closed and I couldn’t open it. I was so scared, so scared that I just jumped in the corner and tried to pretend that nothing happened but then I felt myself being lifted up and I opened my eyes to see her holding me by the collar of my shirt and she looked really mad. I didn’t know what to expect until she just held me and started crying on my shoulder. I blinked and everything was back to normal, she was in her human form, and we were just standing on the ground…but she was still crying on my shoulder.

“Your majesty, is everything okay?”

“No, it’s not. I apologize, Julious,” she whimpered on my shoulder.

“It’s fine. But what happened?”

“Did Malfus eat the fruit?”

“No, he didn’t. But he will be paralyzed for the next 24 hours. He got poisoned just by touching it, but how did you know?”

“I tested it after I found suspicious liquid dripping from it and it was rotting very quickly. I then found out that there were traces of beeazalbubdamum in it. And it is so poisonous to half breeds. It’s the only thing that can really do harm to us.”

“I am aware, your majesty. But there must be more to the story, right?”

“Shamael’s been cheating on me with his horrible ex-wife. I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“How…if you don’t mind me asking?”

“There was a video tape underneath all of the fruit. I know this was all Vlurgen’s doing, but I don’t give a fuck at this point. She can have his cheating ass back. I thought he loved me. I thought he was over her. He’s probably fucking her right now as we speak. He’s been with her this whole time probably.”

“What? I’m sorry to hear that, your majesty.”

“It’s okay. I don’t need him. I can run this kingdom by myself. I can kick his sorry lying ass to the curb.”

“Yeah, you don’t need him if he treats you like that.”

“Oh, thank you, Julious,” she said before she kissed me to my surprise. I always did have a crush on Jodi, so it both caught me off guard and turned me on.

“No problem, your majesty. But I should be on my way.”

“Okay. Well, tell Malfus I’m sorry for not believing him and tell him I hope he feels better.”

“Will do, your majesty,” I assured before I reached the door.

“And Julious…”

“Yes?”

“Why don’t you come back to visit me tonight? I’m sure Shamael will still be gone and I would like to get to know you better.”

“But your majesty…”

“No. You’ll say nothing of the sort. That is an order, Sir Julious. I want you to meet me in the study before nine. Got it?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting for your return. And thank you for comforting me. It was really sweet.”

“No problem.”

“And tonight, you can call me Jodi.”

“Of course, Jodi,” I moaned before I walked out.

I was so shocked at what just happened before me, so shocked that I kept on pondering it over and over in my head. The Empress of the Underworld wanted to fuck me and I kinda wanted to fuck her, but could you blame me? Jodi Whitley Foster was hot. She was a beautiful woman with sun kissed skin and short raven hair. Her green eyes sparkled in dim light and she was thick as hell. I fantasized about her sitting on my face with her gargantuan ass and fucking her silly. I was just that crazy about her and to think she wanted me to act upon my fantasies made me go mad. But then I wondered about Shamael. Sure he was cheating on her with Vlurgen, but it seemed wrong for me to enable her to get  
back at him. But then again, Vlad and my brother shared Alice, so maybe this could work out. But that was a very slim maybe.

But my thoughts paused once I got to the gate. I noticed that Sybaris was sound asleep but Azrael was still awake and turned around when he heard me coming. He smiled and opened the gate for me before he asked,

“Did you find the empress and get your questions answered?”

“Yes, I did. I did.”

“Good to hear. Well, I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, you will. Her Infernal Majesty invited me to a dinner party tonight.”

“She’s having a dinner party? I didn’t hear about that.”

“It’s exclusively to me.”

“Oh, I see. Also, have you heard any whereabouts of the emperor? He hasn’t been around like usual.”

“No, I haven’t. I don’t really know what’s going on.”

“Well, okay. I’ll let you go. See you later then.”

“See you later,” I greeted before I left from the gate.

Once I got back to NYC I got a text from Priya that said that she needed me to get back because it was an emergency. I thought the worst since my brother still had some poison in his system so I hurried to his apartment to figure out what the hell was going on. When I walked in, I smelled Indian takeout in the living room and could hear my brother, Eric, Isaac, and Priya talking and laughing in his room.

“I got your text, Priya, what’s the emergency?”

“You told him it was an emergency?” Arjuna asked.

“I thought I had to in order to get his attention.”

“So it wasn’t an emergency?”

“No, it wasn’t. But we do have a meeting to attend.”

“A meeting?”

“Yes, Joy, Adair, and Deondra are having a meeting with all of the Andromeda leaders at six. And we have to go on Arjuna’s behalf. He still isn’t mobile yet and we need to know what the hell is going on.”

“Okay. But when did you get takeout for lunch?”

“It was Priya’s idea. She ordered it after Kate came to pick up Hudson,” Arjuna said.

“Oh, I was wondering where he was.”

“I made a plate for you. It’s covered in aluminum on the table.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you, Priya.”

“No problem, brother.” I went to the kitchen as soon as she said that and saw the plate for me along with a glass of water and picked up both and went back to the room after grabbing a fork.

“Hey Priya, Eric, and Isaac, could you do me a favor and just leave me and Krishna here. I need to talk to him about something.”

“Um, okay. Well, let’s go boys. Let’s leave my brothers be,” Priya teased before she left with them.

“What’s going on, brother?”

“Oh, you and I both know what’s going on.”

“No, I don’t, brother. What’s going on?”

“Her Infernal Majesty?”

“Oh, yeah. I talked to her. She’s okay…”

“Look at you. You’re blushing harder than me whenever I think of Alice. You have a thing for Jodi, don’t you?”

“Yes, I guess I do, brother. What about it?”

“What about it? What about it?! It’s obvious to me that you are going back to the palace tonight to fuck her silly all night long. But I mean it’s justified. You’ve been madly in love with her since the day you met her and Shamael’s cheating with Vlurgen, so you’ll help her get back at him. I mean it makes perfect sense to me.”

“Don’t kid with me, Arjuna.”

“I’m not judging you or anything. You’re on the same level as me, little brother. I’m actually quite impressed. Jodi is quite amazing and a beautiful woman. I love Alice more though, but I commend you on your valiant efforts. I’m sure you’ll have an amazing night with her tonight.”

“I always forget you know everything and can read my mind.”

“Well, what can I say? It’s one of my many gifts. But protect Jodi at all costs. I care about that woman as much as I cared about Alice.”

“I understand, brother. I would never hurt Jodi.”

“Okay. Well, that’s all I wanted to say. You can let them back in.”

“She also knew about the poison and she wanted me to apologize on her behalf and wish you a get well soon.”

“Well, how sweet of her. I accept her apology.”

“I’ll let her know tonight.”

“Yeah, before you fuck her.”

“Yes, in that order, brother. Priya, Eric, Isaac, you can come back in now.”

“So did you boys go over what needed to be gone over?” Priya asked.

“Yeah, we’re good,” I assured.

 

Around five, Priya and I went back to the apartment we shared (it was in order to not have to pay for rent separately and only Arjuna was willing to pay the high rent on this island by himself) and got ready to go to the meeting Joy, Adair, and Deondra scheduled. They were hosting it in the Dronyian Grand Palace which wasn’t too far from the MPA Headquarters. We headed out by 5:30 and noticed all of the other leaders walking into the entrance of the palace before we landed and followed their lead. We followed them into the grand conference room, but then I heard Jodi calling me from behind so I told Priya that I had to take care of something and went to see where she was. I went over to a plant,  
before she jerked me and took me into a dim lit room.

“Hello again, Julious. Is Malfus okay?”

“Yeah, he’s doing better.”

“Oh, thank heavens,” she moaned before she threw herself in my arms. “I can’t lose him…or you. You two are the most loyal to me.”

“I understand, empress. But you know we can’t die right and neither can you.”

“Oh, right. I keep forgetting.”

“No, no. It’s fine, empress. I promise.”

“Well, we better get going before someone suspects something. But I wouldn’t mind giving you a preview of what’s to come…” she assured before she kissed me. “Enough of that. Let’s go.”

“Right behind you, empress.”

The grand conference room was ornate and decorated with gold and precious marble and a huge oval table to up the middle of the grand room. A huge screen was present on the left wall of the room and we saw that Queen Joy was sitting in the biggest chair at the end of the table with Lady Michelle, Lord Gabriel, Adair, and Deondra surrounding her directly. Then all of the other leaders followed suit and Her Infernal Majesty went to sit by Madame Joanni while I went sit by Skylar and Priya. As soon as I took my seat, Queen Joy stood up and started to speak.

“Welcome to this urgent meeting of the Council of the Multiversal Representatives. I am your gracious speaker and leader, Queen Joy and here to help me with this presentation is Lady Michelle and Lord Gabriel of Elysium, Co-Speakers Adair and Deondra Seville of the MPA, and Coordinator of Our Meetings, Miss Skylar Seville of the MPA. And I know you are all familiar with each other but, Miss Skylar, could you announce everyone who is present at our meeting today?”

“Of course, your highness,” she said before she got up and bowed. “So like Queen Joy said, I’m Skylar Ingrid Seville, Coordinator of the Council and Director of Surveillance in the MPA. So here with us today is the reigning queen of our kingdom and a supervisor of our operations, Queen Nathalia Kay along with her faithful advisor, Lady Genevieve Norene Kay. Next to them are Her Infernal Majesty, Empress Jodi Whitley Foster and her advisor and right hand woman, Madame Joanni Foster of the Underworld. Next we have the delightful leader of New Luminia, Reina Alejandra Carson and her advisor, Melania Astronomonov. We also have Queen Ilana Rose, General Lance and Advisor Ainsley Rhianna of Galaluna. And last but not least, we have Tasumi Jacobo of Pleasant Hills, Delaware, Ana Utonium of Townsville, California, Desiree Chen of Ellington, California, and also Lauryn Masura of the Other Territories of Andromeda, Sector 14.”

“Thank you, Miss Skylar. But I noticed that you missed two people.”

“Oh, my apologies, your highness.”

“It’s fine. Please stand up, sir and dame,” Joy said before she gestured towards us.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Sir Julious Krishna-Padma de Olivier, youngest son of High Elder Tiberius of the Circle. And I am from the Underworld and one of Her Infernal Majesty’s loyal subjects.”

“Hey, I’m Dame Winona Priyanka-Padma de Olivier, only daughter of High Elder Tiberius of the Circle. I am also from the Underworld and I am also a loyal subject of Her Infernal Majesty.”

“Oh, you’re Sir Malfus’ little siblings.”

“Yes, we’re filling in for him.” I quickly assured.

“Filling in for him? Where is he? Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to be here?!” Lady Genevieve remarked.

“He would be here, Ginny, but he was poisoned,” Priya answered.

“Poisoned?!” Queen Nathalia shrieked. “How?”

“Some demoness named Hecate gave me a poisoned fruit basket and I gave him a passion fruit from it and he got poisoned from it,” Her Infernal Majesty answered.

“What? You never told me that,” Madame Joanni shrieked.

“Now do you feel bad, Ginny? You’re too hard on him,” Queen Nathalia scolded.

“A little,” she moaned.

“I forgot to mention, Madame Joanni.”

“Obviously. Are you okay? You weren’t poisoned right?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“The better question is if Sir Malfus is okay,” Alejandra interrupted.

“Yes, how is he doing?” Deondra asked with a concerned look on her face.

“Oh, he’s doing better, Deondra. Only 8 more hours before the poison evacuates his system,” Priya explained.

“But we’ve been looking after him and making sure he’s okay. Actually, Eric and Isaac are with him right now.”

“He tried to warn me and keep me safe and I endangered him. I feel so bad,” Her Infernal Majesty moaned.

“Oh, you can’t blame yourself, Jodi,” Lady Michelle assured. “You had no idea. And Sir Malfus is a very resilient man. He’ll be better in no time.”

“We can only hope,” Madame Joanni remarked. “What was this poison he was exposed to anyway?”

“Beeazalbubdamum,” I answered.

“What?! That’s the most poisonous element in the multiverse for half breeds. Man, whoever this Hecate is wants you really hurt, Jodi.”

“I have a feeling she’s working for Vlurgen, Madame Joanni.”

“Well, she could also be Shalone in disguise. We haven’t cross out that possibility yet either,” Priya remarked.

“But she’s imprisoned in the second dimension,” Deondra interjected. “It’s impossible to escape there.”

“I wouldn’t put it passed Shalone though,” Madame Joanni moaned. “She is a very sneaky and cunning woman. She could possibly find a way out.”

“Well, enough of that,” Queen Joy quickly interjected. “I guess we’re just waiting for one more leader. Did you invite her, Isa?”

“Yes, I did, your majesty. She must be running late.”

“Oh, no. I’m dreadfully sorry. I am here now,” a voice called from the doorway. I turned back to see a 6’7” woman with subtle forest green skin, red eyes with yellow corneas, elf ears, and long and flowing white hair. A giant golden crown adorned her head and she was wearing a black dress adorned with gold and green jewels. Her accent sounded that of an old and dainty British woman.

“Hello, everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Lady Olga Lyudmila Van Winkle, Guardian of Vitruvia but born of Calugian blood. But you can call me Lady Mila. I’m also Prince Vlad’s aunt.”

“Welcome back, old friend. Please sit. We left you a spot at the table,” Queen Joy announced.

“Hello, Lady Mila,” I greeted after she sat down.

“Oh, hello, Sir Julious. Funny seeing you here. And little Dame Priya is with you. Hello sweetheart. How are you?”

“I’m good, Lady Mila.”

“Well, good to hear it. But where’s your brother? He’s usually at these meetings.”

“You just missed the explanation, Lady Mila,” Tasumi remarked.

“Sir Malfus was poisoned by a fruit contaminated by beeazalbubdamum. He’s still resting the effects off,” Queen Joy explained.

“Oh, poor baby. I hope he gets better soon. I’ve always loved that young man. He’s the salt of the multiverse. And he was such a good influence for my little Vladie.”

“Yes, I agree. But aren’t you missing someone? I thought Natalya usually comes with you.”

“Oh, she does. But she’s been so busy with her school and she has a new girlfriend. She’s such a sweet and beautiful young lady.”

“Oh really, what’s her name?”

“Dame Alissa Daniella Tanino of Naaru. She actually works at the school.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that she’s doing well regardless of her absence.”

“I hate to be rude, your majesty, but why have you called this meeting?” Desiree asked.

“Well, since Miss Skylar found out about the reason behind this meeting first, I would like her to address why we’re here.”

“Well, I have to thank Sir Malfus for helping me figure out what the hell was going on in the first place. I had no idea before he showed up in the office the other day.”

“Yeah, while you were conveniently skipping Nathalia’s dinner,” Lady Genevieve remarked.

“Okay, that’s enough, Genevieve. Do I have to leave you whenever I go anywhere? She is forgiven. She was only trying to make sure that everyone stays safe.”

“Thank you, your majesty. But as I was saying…”

“Wait, you’re getting a chat request, your majesty,” Ana told Queen Joy.

“Oh, I am. Let me see who it is.”

“It’s Jewel. I recognize her screen name, Joy,” Adair insisted.

“Okay, well let’s see what she’s talking about….Hello, Jewel. How are you?”

“Hello, your majesty. Hello everyone. I’m good too. I just hate being Lady Montague’s advisor. She’s a little too much for my taste.”

“Oh, sweetie. It’s almost over. You’ve taken worse missions, haven’t you?” Lady Mila asked.

“Yeah, I have, Lady Mila. But I have urgent news.”

“What is your news?” Queen Joy asked.

“Well, I have a quick question. Where’s Malfus? I thought he might want to hear this.”

“Oh, here we go,” Tasumi moaned under her breath.

“Our brother was accidentally poisoned,” I answered. “But he’s slowly recovering. So Priya and I are filling in for him. We’ll let him know everything.”

“Well, okay. Anyway, the chaos ensuing in Quadrant 4, District 9 is all over multiversal news networks right now. I don’t know who let the cat out of the bag, but many civilians are panicking now just in Naaru.”

“What?!” Adair screamed before he slammed his hand down on the table and stood up. “We told everyone not to let the media know. You know they dramatize everything!”

“I’m aware, Adair. But someone told and now it’s all over TV.”

“Well, what the hell is going on in Quadrant 4, District 9?” Desiree asked.

“That’s what I was getting to,” Skylar insisted. “For starters, Vlurgen bypassed the barrier in between our realm and Earth. And she forced Duchess Jennae Flashé of Naaru to help her on her brigade of terror around Middleburg.”

“How in the hell did she do that?” Lauryn asked.

“I have a theory,” Her Infernal Majesty interjected. “Did any of you know that Shamael was married to Vlurgen? Because guess what? I have two things to say about him. First, he’s a lying and cheating bastard. He’s been cheating on me with her and staying at her palace whenever he’s gone and that basket of poisoned fruits that poisoned Malfus was probably her doing as well. I saw his infidelity with my own eyes. Yep, there was a sex tape underneath the fruit. My other theory is that while he was creeping around with her, he helped her break the barrier.”

“What?! You didn’t tell me that either,” Madame Joanni interjected. “Why that no good motherfucker!”

“Why would he even help her? What does he have to gain?” Tara asked.

“His daughter, Xiomara Viore, also known as Sashi Kobayashi of Middleburg,” Her Infernal Majesty angrily answered.

“What?! Sashi Kobayashi is his daughter?” Alejandra asked.

“Yep, she is,” Queen Joy answered.

“But wouldn’t Vlurgen also need a QPC to get to Earth?” Queen Ilana asked.

“Well, that’s the other part of the story,” Skylar started. “One of our agents has gone rogue and is helping her. Only our agents knew where the missing QPC was and a rogue must have given it to her.”

“Malfus thinks that it might be Paulina,” Jewel added.

“What? Why would it be Paulina? She’s such a sweetheart. Why would she even get caught up in someone like Vlurgen?” Queen Ilana asked.

“My niece is quite the manipulator,” Lady Mila started. “Paulina is a very impressionable young woman. She had horrible parents that conditioned her with a bell. And because of her traumatic past, she can still be easily manipulated. I don’t know if Malfus’ theory is true or not but he may be on to something. And I’m sure she isn’t a willing participant. My niece probably promised her something she really wanted and now she’s a slave to her.”

“Like a baby!” I suddenly said.

“Yes, like a baby…wait, she is pregnant, isn’t she?”

“Sure is,” I answered back.

“Wow, well maybe Malfus is on to something. He’s a brilliant young man,” Lady Mila said.

“Well, there must be more to the story, right? There’s always more to the story,” Tara added.

“There is. Vlurgen has made her daughter go mad and she isn’t going to recover any time soon. She calls herself striping her of her human frailty. She can barely interact with humans like a normal person anymore,” Jewel answered.

“What?! What kind of mother would do that to their own child?!” Ana shrieked.

“My niece is very twisted, Ana. She has no heart or soul. She’s literally a ball of evil energy.”

“But that’s not the worse part,” Skylar started. “Do you know what else she did while she was on her tirade in Middleburg?”

“No, but please enlighten us,” Lady Genevieve remarked.

“She killed Alice. Yep, she killed the personification of hope. She brutally murdered her in front of all of her family at the twins’ Christening.”

“What?!” Her Infernal Majesty shrieked. “That’s it! I want to strangle that bitch. How dare she hurt that poor innocent woman? I’m so mad at Shamael right now too. I can’t believe he helped that bitch.”

“Girl, you need to dump him. I was a queen by myself for 25 years. I’m sure you can hold it down by yourself. You don’t need him,” Ana assured.

“Thank you, Ana. Whenever he does come back, his bags will be packed and he will be forced to leave. If he’s so in love with Vlurgen, he can stay there. Besides, I think I’ll be able to move on,” she said before she nonchalantly winked at me.

“Yeah, Her Infernal Majesty deserves better,” I assured.

“Aww, you’re so sweet,” Queen Ilana said. “I’m sure you’ll make a very lucky woman happy one day.”

“Yeah, I hope so.”

“I can’t believe this. How’s my little Vladie?”

“He’s doing the best he can, honestly,” Jewel answered. “I feel so bad for the guy. He must be traumatized. But he has to stay strong for his daughters.”

“Yes, he does. I hope he’ll manage. Poor thing. Alice was an amazing woman,” Lady Mila said.

“But do you know who really wanted Alice dead? It wasn’t Vlurgen, I’ll tell you that,” Jewel quirked.

“Then who was it?” Lauryn asked.

“Lady Montague.”

“What? Why does she want her dead?” Desiree asked.

“Because she wants Rippen back,” Skylar answered.

“What? These are some crazy ass motherfuckers,” Ainsley moaned. “Don’t these bitches know you can’t always have your way. Look, Sashi was happy without Vlurgen’s influence and Rippen was happy with Alice. They need to get the fuck over it.”

“Well, that’s easier said than done, Ainsley,” Jewel moaned.

“And apparently, Vlurgen isn’t much of a fan of Penn,” Lady Michelle moaned.

“You mean the cute little red headed boy?” Ainsley asked. “I like him. He’s good for her.”

“Well, I think she isn’t a fan of his because he’s a good guy. He’s not good enough for her in her eyes,” Jewel answered back.

“And that’s why she’s making Sashi go mad. It’s not just to strip her of her human frailty. It’s also to drive Penn insane and make him leave her.”

“He better fucking not, Skylar. She needs him now more than ever,” Ainsley remarked.

“I’m not saying that he will leave her. He’s a good guy. I don’t think he will.”

“Well, this was an effective meeting I think…but I have to go before Lady Montague gets back.”

“Okay, well we’ll talk to you later. Bye,” Queen Joy greeted.

“Goodbye,” she answered back before she hung up.

“Okay. So that was all of our key points. Would you like to add anything else, Miss Skylar?”

“No, that’s all I have, your majesty.”

“Alright. Anyone else have any closing statements?”

“No, I think we’re good, Joy,” Adair insisted.

“Well, alright. This meeting is adjourn.”

 

After the meeting ended, Priya and I went back to Arjuna’s apartment to check on him. But when we got back, Eric and Isaac were sound asleep in the chairs in the living room and when we went to Arjuna’s room, he was sound asleep as well with Hoagie lying next to him. So we just headed back to our apartment. But when we got there, we got a little surprise.

Priya turned on the main light to the main hallway first and we noticed our newest intern, Madeline O’Hara sitting down in one of our leather chairs with nothing on but a black kimono robe that left nothing to the imagination. Normally, I would be drooling at the sight of her but I knew that she wasn’t into me because one…she was a lesbian and two, she was fucking my sister every damn night it seemed. So why would tonight be any different?

“Maddie?! What are you doing here?!”

“What am I doing here? I was worried sick about you, Priyanka. I texted you and called you at least four times and you didn’t answer. And I missed you.”

“Oh, right. I left my phone in the room. I forgot I gave you a key too. I’m sorry, babe,” she said before she went out to hug her.

“Oh, you’re forgiven. You’re so sweet,” Madeline chirped.

“And you’re wearing the robe I got you!”

“Of course I am. I love it.”

“Wow. You got me feeling some type of way in that robe too.”

“Would you like to act upon those feelings…like right now?”

“You bet I do!” Priya chirped before she picked Madeline up. “Oh, and Krishna, you can see your way out.”

“What?! This is my apartment too.”

“Well, it’s either that or wear your noise cancelling earphones. You know I’m a screamer but a girl like Priya can do that to ya,” Madeline remarked.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

Although I was upset that I had been kicked out of my own apartment, I was also kind of happy that fate let it happen this way. It gave me a good excuse to sneak off and return to the Underworld to spend an amazing night with Her Infernal Majesty. So I hurried to meet her in the study like she wanted. But as soon as I hit the gate, Azrael stopped me in my tracks.

“Hello again, Sir Julious. Are you here to see Empress Jodi again?”

“Yes, I am. I’m attending a special dinner with her.”

“Oh, right. You told me that. You may pass.”

“Thank you, Azrael. I’ll see you later, friend.”

“I’ll see you later, friend.”

As soon as I passed him, I went straight up the stairs and went into the study which was opened ajar. But I didn’t see her. I walked down ever aisle of books and papers on the shelves and almost gave up the search until I got to the back of the study and saw Jodi lounging on one of the marble study tables. She was draped in black silk which barely covered her sun kissed skin and she was wearing a golden spiked choker around her neck. But she was a beauty to behold and I was in love. And I was also in too deep. I longed to fully serve her and obey every request…and I mean every request.

“So glad you could make it, Sir Julious.”

“Of course. I wish to serve you, your majesty.”

“Oh, Julious,” she cooed before she stepped down from her perch and started walking towards me. “I told you to call me Jodi, tonight.” Soon after she said that, she lightly caressed my face which brought chills down my spine.

“Right, I shall call you Jodi tonight.”

“Julious, is there something wrong? Are you scared of me?”

“What?! No. I only fear and respect you, Jodi. And you take my breath away.”

“Oh, you. You’re so sweet. But I already know I have that effect on men. But I think you’re hiding something. You wouldn’t dare hide anything from your queen, would you?” she sweetly asked before she put her hands on my shoulder and brought herself closer to me.

“I wouldn’t dare hide anything from you, Jodi…so I’ll be honest with you. I’m afraid of what Shamael will do to me if he catches me with you. I mean I’m madly in love with you and always have been and you deserve better…but you two aren’t really separated yet.”

“Wait, you’re madly in love with me?”

“I mean is it flattering to know that I jack off to the thought of you?”

“A little. How sweet…in a weird way. Don’t worry about him. He’s dead to me now. He chose his ex-wife and now I choose you. Now, you want to please your queen, right?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, well follow me,” she cooed before she pulled me by my tie towards the hallway and then to her grand master bedroom…you know the room that she and Shamael used to fuck in and sleep in together. It made me shake a little inside, but I promised to forget about him for her sake. Once we walked in, she told me to stay standing where I was while she took a seat on the edge of her king size gold and white canopy bed. Next thing I knew, a fire bolt flew past my head and hit the door which forced it closed and locked since she…you know burnt the doorknob off.

“Oh, Julious, you’re so cute when you’re intimidated,” she teased before she slightly lowed her black silk from her breasts.

“Thank you…I think.”

“Don’t be afraid. This will be an amazing night. It’s just you and me again tonight. No one will know of our sexcapades and I promise you’ll enjoy making love to me.“

“I bet I will,” I quietly cooed before I scratched the back of my head.

“Oh, you will. Now take off your clothes and do it slowly. I want to enjoy every minute of this.”

“Of course,” I moaned before I started stripping. My suit was the first to come off before I started undoing my tie and unbuttoning my dress shirt. I actually didn’t mind exposing my tan torso to her. Honestly, I had a nice enough body that I didn’t mind showing it off to her. I looked up at her as soon as all of that was off and she just smiled and bit her lip a little before motioning me to take my pants and underwear off. I quickly followed her command and hurried to unbutton my pants and take them off and then she started to laugh. I was worried, but then I remember that I had already popped a boner after seeing her exposed cleavage and apparently, he wasn’t going down anytime soon.

Suddenly she got up after she gained her composure back and helped me take off my boxers. And she swiped them off so fast that I didn’t even realize they were off until I looked down on the ground. Next thing I knew, she was stroking my dick slowly which made me go mad. Jacking off to the thought of her was one thing, but having her do it for you was even better. But as soon as the sweet release of climax came close to pass, she stopped touching me and without even looking down, I felt some foreign object being slid on me. I looked down and noticed that she put a cock ring on me to stop my climax and to also see that my member was throbbing from denied release and my tip was leaking precum.

“How’d that feel?” she cooed.

“That felt really good,” I moaned before I stopped and looked at her again. I didn’t even notice until now that she was now nude in front of me, only wearing the gold spiked collar. And I think she noticed that I was staring.

“Do you like what you see, Sir Julious?”

“Yeah, I really do, Jodi.”

“Well, I like what I see too. You’re well-endowed in more ways than one.”

“Thank you. But may I ask why you aren’t letting me cum?”

“Oh, that’s a simple question with a simple answer. Oh, Julious, I can’t let you do that. You must please your queen first. A little nice foreplay and I’ll let you climax. But you really have to charm me to get your wish.”

“Well, I’ll do just that, my queen,” I insisted before I pushed her back on the bed. She giggled and grabbed the back of my head before she started kissing me again. Before I knew it, she lowered me down to the ground and commanded me to get on my knees before she opened her legs for me. I think I was in awe of what was in front of me. She had such a nice pink cunt and I couldn’t wait to get a taste of that. But apparently, I was too fast because she picked my head up with one of her long black nails for me to face her and whispered,

“Are you ready to truly please your queen?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Hmmm…so eager…it’s so amusing to me. I’ll let you continue then.” She quickly removed her nail from my chin and I went in straight for the kill. And to my delight, she actually liked my oral performance.

“Oh…oh. You’re so good to me,” she cooed before she started working her fingers through my hair. “You could do wonders with that tongue of yours.” Hearing that made me even more ecstatic and I decided to kick it up a notch to make her go crazier. I guess I pleased her well too because she came really quickly and I lapped up every inch of her bounty.

She pushed me away a little after she came and lay back on the bed before she motioned me to stand back up and look at her. She was fondling her boobs before me and then said, “Oh, don’t be afraid. Come closer. I want to ask a favor.”

“Yes, Jodi?” I asked before I got closer to her.

“I really used to like when Shamael played with the girls, but I really used to like when he would suckle at them. Wouldn’t you like to do the same?”

“Why, yes I would,” I assured before I jumped on top of her and started to suckle at her right boob and squeezing her left.

“Oh, Julious…oh…you’re doing so well. So much better than Shamael.”

“Really, your majesty?”

“Um, did I tell you to stop? And just when I was gonna let you cum nicely.”

“No, my queen. My apologies,” I moaned before I went back to what I was doing.

She actually pushed my head back to show that she was satisfied so I just leaned over her a little dumbfounded before she instructed me to get up before she did and then told me to lay back down on the bed with my arms and legs opened out. So I did as she said before she bound my arms and legs to the bed posts. Next thing I knew she put a ball gag in my mouth and a blindfold over my eyes after she stroked my face and gave me a quick French kiss.

“My precious Julious, you’re such a treasure. You are such a wonderful lover,” she whispered in my ear. “You’ve done your queen well. Such favors deserve a special reward. And this will be a reward you won’t soon forget. I tend to drive even my unfaithful wild with my style of sex.”

As soon as she said that, she drove her nails down my torso before leaving soft kisses where she lightly scratched me. I felt her pounce on top of me like I was her prey, leaving more kisses all over my face and neck before I felt her pretty pink cunt on my tip. I knew she was teasing me but I loved it. Her hands travelled across my body before I felt her hands grip at my erect member again. Suddenly, the feeling of her hands disappeared and was replaced by her mouth slowly sucking on my dick. The sensation of her teeth gnawing on it also sent chills down my spine and I guess she was able to take off the cock ring with her teeth because as soon as she did, I felt my sweet release coming.

Except, I was denied once again when she shifted again and I felt her bubble butt land on my throbbing manhood. She gripped onto my legs to steady herself before I started thrusting slowly into her anal cavity. And she was giving me quite the work out. But to her dismay, I couldn’t last long and ended up climaxing way faster than she thought, but she didn’t move. Instead, she stayed put and let me nut inside of her. But as soon as I was done, I felt myself trying to catch my breath and get myself back together. I just hoped that she was satisfied by my performance.

I stayed in complete contemplation of her judgment, until she came back into the room and untied me from the bed posts. Then she took the gag out of my mouth and took the blindfold from my eyes. And when I looked up at her, she was smiling before she gently kissed my lips. She was clothed again too, except she was just wearing a robe and then she told me,

“Get up. I drew us a scotching hot bath.”

“Of course, my queen,” I insisted before I followed her.

It was surreal going into their bathroom, even than their bedroom. The bathroom was in dim lit with red lights and everything thing was black and red. The walls were red and all the glass was red, but the countertops, tub, and shower were black marble and the drawers and cabinets were painted black.

The tub was filled to the brim with rose water and rose petals were floating on top of the water.

“Get in,” she instructed. “No use in just staring at it.”

“Right. My apologies,” I assured before I got into the tub. She got in right after me and got comfortable on my lap before she wrapped my arms around her torso and leaned her head on my chest.

“How did I do, your majesty? Did I please you?”

“Oh, you did so well, Julious. I’m very pleased.”

“You’re welcome, Jodi.”

“And I didn’t even say thank you. Oh, this is so relaxing. Hold me tighter.”

“Of course,” I insisted before I held her closer to me.

“Do you like this just as much as I do?”

“Yeah, I kinda do. I had no idea rosewater was this relaxing?”

“Yes, it is. I love bathing like this. Shamael introduced me to the idea though.”

“Oh, I see, my queen.”

“But you’re better than him. Please tell me that you’ll stay.”

“What do you mean stay?” I asked before she disappeared and reappeared facing me.

“What do I mean? Don’t you love me?”

“With all my nonexistent heart, your majesty.”

“Then why wouldn’t you want to stay?”

“Because I live in NYC to help my brother and sister manage our chapter of the Circle.”

“But you live with Winona and she’s always bringing strange people into the house to fuck and whenever her fuck buddy, Madeline, is around…she kicks you out and you end up sleeping on Malfus’ couch at his place. Don’t you want to cuddle with the woman you love and live in this huge palace with me and my family?”

“I guess it would be nice yes. But I want to always be there for my brother.”

“Oh, I know. But you can always make the trip back. Please, Julious. Please stay with me. I get so lonely here whenever everyone’s gone. I just want some nice company.”

“Fine, I’ll stay with you,” I insisted before I brought her closer to me. “You deserve better and I promise to keep you and please you as well as I can.”

“Oh, thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too, Jodi,” I answered back before she kissed me. Then next thing I knew, she moved from my lips and forcefully bit my neck. She clutched on to my shoulder blade while she attacked my neck flesh with her teeth until the scar she inflicted became thick. Then she took the choker off of her neck and placed it around mine.

“Now everyone will know that you’re my new lover.”

“Really?”

“Don’t act ashamed, Julious. Shamael already made his decision and that means that I can make my own. You’ll be the new Emperor of the Underworld now since I’m kicking his sorry ass out. He can be the Emperor of Caluga again…a downgrade if you ask me.”

“Me…Emperor of the Underworld? Me?”

“Yes, you. But you’ll only be a figure head. I’ll be the one in control, that way you can still help Malfus whenever he needs help. But thank you for being there for me during this dark time. I really owe you one.”

“No problem, Jodi. I love you too much to let you suffer in silence. Shamael is honestly a fool to pick Vlurgen over you. You’re a very beautiful and genuine woman.”

“Thank you, Julious. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”

“Yeah, I think it is too, Jodi.”


	4. Her Infernal Majesty, Empress Jodi

The following morning, I woke up wrapped up in Sir Julious’ arms under the black and red silk sheets. He was sound asleep, laying his head on my shoulder blade while his long silky black hair was draped all over the sheets behind him. But his cobalt blue skin was so warm against my cold sun kissed skin. And the sharp sensation of my choker around his neck poking at my skin made me feel good too.

As demons, we didn’t even really need sleep, but since we were always around humans and were half human, sleep was something that we actually enjoyed. And cuddling, yet another human sentiment, was something that most half breeds enjoyed too. I was different getting spooned by someone as built as Julious (since Shamael was very lanky…like Sir Malfus), but it was a nice different that I could really get used to.

I slipped away from him and went to the kitchen after making sure no one was around. Madame Joanni, Mika, and Rachel went back to New Luminia for tea with Reina Alejandra and Princesa Mariela, so it was just me and Julious in the palace again. I hurried to make some breakfast for him, something that I used to do for Shamael sometimes, and then went back into the room with his food and drink on a tray to bring to him. He was wide awake when I walked back in and he was on the phone with who I assumed was Malfus or Winona.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll head back in a sec. Yes, I know you want to know what happened at the meeting. I’ll see you later, brother,” he huffed before he hung up. “Damn Priya. She knew he wanted to know what happened ASAP. But she’s probably too busy with Maddie to care.”

“Is something wrong, sweetie?” I asked with a smirk.

“Oh, good morning, Jodi. I didn’t see you.”

“Obviously. I made you breakfast.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” he chirped before I went over by him and placed the tray in front of him.

“I wanted to,” I assured before I lightly kissed him. I made my way over to my own side before I asked, “What does Malfus want?”

“He wants to know about what happened at the meeting.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. I guess he’s fine then, huh?”

“Yeah, he feels better. The poison’s effect has worn off.”

“Oh, that’s good to know. Honestly, you and your brother are the only stability I have in my life right now.”

“Well, we’re honored to serve you, your majesty.”

“You’re so sweet,” I whispered before I kissed his cheek. “Eat up. We’re going to make a trip to Malfus’ place in a few and I have the perfect outfit for you.”

“Okay.”

After he finished eating the breakfast that I made, we took a nice long and hot shower before I threw on a flannel shirt and black jeans with my stiletto boots and I made him dress just like me down to the boots like Shamael and I used to do some times. But he seemed happy to go along with this charade.

“I like this whole twinsie thing, your majesty.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you do. Shamael and I used to play twinsies all of the time.”

“Well, enough about him. Let’s go break the news to my brother.”

“Of course.”

 

When we got to Malfus’ apartment, we could already hear noise coming from his bedroom window. But when I knocked, Priya came to answer the door with Madeline standing behind her holding Hudson in her arms. They let us in and we headed to Malfus’ room where he was watching an old episode of the Daily Show with Eric and Isaac but he didn’t even notice that we were here since he was talking to someone on the phone while watching the episode. But then he hung up and looked back at the TV before saying,

“Man, that Echo is a riot. And she’s still a hit. Hey, Eric, did you know Echo was on tour again? She never stops, I tell yeah. But man is she talented.”

“I know that too well, master.”

“This was a really good episode, master,” Isaac interrupted.

“Yeah, it was. I miss the real Stewart…oh, hey Krishna…Jodi.”

“I was wondering if you noticed that we were here. And does Kate ever have that baby? It seems like Priya always has him.”

“Yeah, she keeps him too. She’s just been busy with her job recently,” he answered before he took another sip of his beer.

“You’re drinking at 11 AM?”

“Don’t give me that, your majesty. It’s been a rough 24 hours.”

“I know, Malfus. I apologize again for not believing you.”

“It’s fine, your majesty. All is forgiven. Come, get comfortable. Eric, Isaac, let them sit down in your seats. Go help the girls tend to Hudson and Hoagie while you’re at it. You’re free to go.”

“Of course, master,” they both answered before they got up and left the room.

“Reliving the glory days?” I asked before both Julious and I sat down.

“Yeah, I like to reminisce about the past. It used to be fun doing this with Alice. I miss her dearly.”

“We all do, Sir Malfus.”

“So I take it you were on the phone with Echo?” Julious asked.

“Yep. She actually called me.”

“Figures.”

“Yep. She also told me to tell Her Infernal Majesty that she will attend the meeting your planning with all of the elders and advisors in the Underworld this afternoon.”

“What?! Oh, I forgot you two both have freaky premonition powers. Well, either way, Echo is a joy and I would love to see her again. Her recent album was a hit. She keeps knocking them out of the ballpark.”

“All of us have her whole discography at our disposal,” Julious added.

“We sure do. Say, Krishna, that’s a mighty fine choker you have there on your neck.”

“Oh, thank you, brother. This is a token of our love.”

“Yep, Julious is the new Emperor of the Underworld and my new lover,” I added.

“When are you gonna break the news to Shamael?” he asked before he took another sip of beer.

“When he brings his lying, cheating ass back home. Julious and I will pack his things and leave them outside for him to pick up. I’m sure all of the Underworld will respect my decision.”

“I hope for you sake, your majesty. So how was this meeting I missed? How many people asked about me or showed any concern for my ailment?”

“Well, the only ones that asked where you were…were Queen Joy, Lady Olga, and Jewel. And the only ones that showed concern where those three, Lady Michelle, Deondra, Skylar, and Queen Nathalia.”

“Figures. That’s who I suspected.”

“We just touched bases on what was going on and Skylar even credited you for helping her figure out what was going on.”

“Good. I knew Skylar would come through for me.”

“But we learned something else that’s bad,” Julious moaned.

“What?! How bad was this something?!”

“Turns out someone spilled the beans and now the chaos has been spreading through the Multiversal Media according to Jewel. She said that the media in Naaru have been reporting on all of the chaos for at least two days now but the news is spreading fast across the multiverse.”

“What?! I wonder what agent spilled the beans. It couldn’t be Paulina this time…at least I don’t think. But I won’t cross her off my list just yet.”

“What is your deal with Paulina? And wouldn’t you know who spilled the beans? I thought you had future vision like Garnet.”

“Don’t give me that, Jodi. Even my ‘future vision’ can be limited. And I’m not even gonna satisfy that other question with an answer.”

“Wow, I guess that was a touchy topic.”

“Shouldn’t we gather the elders and advisors for a meeting then, your majesty?” Julious asked me. “And what time should we meet up in the ballroom?”

“2:00 is fine. It’s still morning. We’ll head back over around 1:00 and gather everyone. Until then, let’s just reminisce with Malfus.”

“Your wish is my command, your majesty. But what are we gonna do about Hudson?’

“Yeah, that’s a good point. Is Kate coming back to pick him up?”

“No. She’ll be gone all week, so we’re keeping him,” Malfus answered.

“Well, I guess it’s okay for Winona and Madeline to keep an eye on him during the meeting…so that means he’ll have to be in the ballroom with us…but I think that will be okay.”

“I assure you, your majesty, Priya and Madeline will keep him occupied,” Malfus assured.

“I hope so. We don’t need him being fussy during the meeting.”

“Oh, your majesty, Hudson’s a good baby. Usually, when he’s napping he’s out for the count for at least an hour, two tops. The meeting shouldn’t be that long, right? He usually naps around 2 anyway. That’s his midday nap time.”

“Well, I hope so for your sake, Malf. All of my kids are grown so those days are over.”

“But Rachel’s only four,” Julious interjected.

“But she can still do for herself and is potty trained…and usually Mika and Madame Joanni look after her for me.”

“Touche.”

After the reminiscing ended, Malfus sent us out of his room so he could throw on one of his suits for the meeting. Julious had to change too, so he took my hand and led me down the street to the apartment he shared with Winona. The place was a bit smaller than Malfus’ which was weird considering the fact that only he lived with Hoagie and Hudson, whenever Kate dropped him off. He brought me straight to his room and told me that I could sit on the bed and watch him change into one of his best suits. I did watch him the whole time, until I got a call from Madame Joanni.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jodi. Echo just arrived at the palace. She told me to help her round up the elders and advisors. What’s going on? Why are we doing this?”

“Didn’t she tell you why?”

“No, she didn’t, smartypants. And where are you? The girls and I got back a few minutes ago and Echo was just talking to Azrael and petting Sybaris by the gate waiting for you to let her into the palace.”

“I’m in NYC with the de Olivier’s. We’re gonna head over there in a few. We’re having a meeting about the chaos throughout our realm in the multiverse.”

“Oh, okay. I’m just glad you’re safe. I was really worried.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, Madame Joanni. I’ll be there in a sec.”

“Okay. Well, see you later.”

“Yep, see you later,” I said before I hung up. “Guess who’s at the palace right now.”

“Echo?”

“Yeah.”

“She does like to get to places on time. That’s like her thing. She’s just like her mother.”

“Figures. That is how Queen Joy rolls.”

“Well, I’m ready to go. What do you think?”

“You clean up nicely. I’m gonna have to step up my game when I change.”

“You always look delightful, your majesty. Here’s the other clothes,” he said before he handed me a plastic bag with the clothes in it.

“Thank you. Well, let’s go see if the others are ready.”

When we got back to Malfus’ apartment, everyone was in the living room just sitting and waiting for us. Priya was bouncing Hudson back and forth on her leg like my father used to do with me when I was younger and Madeline was talking to him in baby talk and tickling his belly which made him giggle and smile and clap. Eric and Isaac were both on their tablets and Malfus was just petting Hoagie who was sitting next to him.

“Alright, are we all ready to go? Looks like we are. Good, good. Now let’s go,” Malfus cheered.

“Look who’s in a hurry,” I teased. “I guess you know Echo is already at the palace.”

“Yeah, she just texted me. I’m bringing my copy of Vulnicura for her to sign.”

“You’re such a fangirl, Arjuna,” Winona teased.

“Whatever, Priya. You like Echo’s music too.”

“Of course, I do. That’s because Echo’s alias here is a legend and an icon in the music industry. She took this planet by storm like we did. You and her both have those humans eating out of the palm of your hands.”

“We’re just that good. We’re the children of future telling. Well, let’s be on our way. Don’t want to keep my other sister waiting,” Malfus cheered before he ran out the door.

“Hudson, your daddy’s a mess,” Winona whispered to the baby in the sling wrapped around her before Madeline giggled.

 

When we got to the Underworld Grand Palace, Azrael was standing at his post again while Sybaris was behind the gate taking a nap. When he saw us walking his way, he waved and hurried to open the gate for us to walk in.

“Hello, your majesty…and all of the advisors.”

“Hey, Azrael,” I greeted.

“Oh, whose this lovely lady?” he asked before pointing at Madeline.

“Azrael, this is my lovely girlfriend, Madeline O’Hara,” Winona answered.

“She’s also one of our interns,” Malfus added.

“Oh, I see. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madeline.”

“A pleasure to meet you too, Azrael.”

“And you brought little Hudson. I’ve been wanting to see him.”

“You want to hold him?” Winona asked.

“Oh, could I, Sir Malfus?”

“Sure. It’s fine.”

“Yes!” he cheered before Winona handed him to him to hold.

“He’s so adorable,” he cheered.

“Yeah, we know that very well,” Madeline said. “Priya and I are like his mothers.”

“Well, it is great practice, right?”

“I guess so,” Winona moaned.

“Where are Echo and Madame Joanni?” I asked.

“They gathered all of the other advisors and elders like you wanted, your majesty. Now Princess Echo and Madame Joanni are with them in the ballroom…also like you wanted.”

“Good. Well, we better go meet them.”

“Okay, your majesty. Here’s Hudson back, Dame Winona,” Azrael said before he handed him back.

“Thanks,” she answered back. “Looks like someone is fighting sleep. He knows it’s his nap time.”

“He’ll be out for the count soon enough,” Malfus assured.

“I hope so, Arjuna,” she said back.

As soon as we got closer to the ballroom (after I threw on my royal garb), we could hear really loud banter and some cackling. When I opened the doors, I saw the Circle on one side of the room and the other advisors on the other. Madame Joanni, Echo, and Joanna (with Rachel on her lap) were sitting at the middle table where Sir Julious and I were also gonna sit. So we made our way over to the middle table while Malfus, Winona, Eric, Isaac, and Madeline went to the left side of the room to sit with the advisors. But then I got a question as soon as we sat down.

“Your majesty, is there any reason why my son is sitting in your husband’s spot?”

“High Elder Tiberius, you are speaking out of turn. Her Infernal Majesty has not even started this meeting yet let alone got comfortable in her seat.”

“It’s okay, Madame Joanni. That was actually gonna be my starting point.”

“What do you mean, Jodi?”

“If it pleases the Underworld Council and the Circle, I would like to announce the new Emperor of the Underworld, Sir Julious Krishna-Padma de Olivier, youngest son of High Elder Tiberius and Dame Padma de Olivier.”

“What? What is going on, Jodi?” former Emperor Lu asked. “Why have you disposed of my son? Is he not your husband and still the Emperor of the Underworld?”

“The better question is where has he been all these weeks?” former Empress Adanna asked. “I haven’t seen him around, have any of you? How is he to be emperor if he has not been around?”

“He’s been hoeing around with his ex-wife,” Madame Joanni moaned under her breath.

“What?!” Echo shrieked.

“Yes, what was that, Madame Joanni?” Adanna asked.

“She said he’s been with his ex-wife! He’s been seeing and sleeping with his ex-wife, Dark Empress Vlurgen Viore Van Winkle, daughter of Dark Lord Nikita Van Winkle of Caluga and Dark Lady Viore Van Winkle of the Underworld.”

“What?!” Circe and Thalia, High Elder Tiberius’ sisters, shrieked.

“He’s seeing that hussy again?” Echo asked.

“That’s what I’m saying, Echo,” Madame Joanni agreed.

“So what does my son have to do with this?” Tiberius asked.

“Isn’t it obvious, brother?” Thalia asked.

“Yeah, our nephew is Her Infernal Majesty’s rebound. I think it’s fair. If Shamael gets to cheat, then she should be able to as well,” Circe added.

“I see. But I have another question, your majesty.”

“Go ahead, Tiberius,” I moaned.

“Why are there two humans here with us?”

“Dad, this is my girlfriend and one of Malf’s interns, Madeline O’ Hara. She’s like family to us now. And you should know about Hudson.”

“Yes, I’m very aware of the human child Malfus has with a human woman that I did not approve of.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Circe demanded. “We’re here to have a meeting, not have you barking at my nephew like you like to do.”

“Thank you, Circe. Now that we have some order back in the room, I would like to introduce our special guest before I get to my next point. Our special guest is none other than Princess Echo Penelope Theodosia Seville, daughter of Queen Joy of Monokia Island and former Prince Delvarus Park Seville of New Dronyx…although she is also known as International Pop Sensation, Bjork Guomudsdottir of Reykjavik, Iceland!!!” I announced before she got up and waved to a roaring applause.

“Thank you, thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here. Her Infernal Majesty is a good friend as well as Sir Malfus. And I have also had the pleasure to get to know Madame Joanni better today.”

“Alright, and on that note, let’s get back to the agenda of this urgent meeting. Is anyone here aware of the chaos happening on Earth right now?”

“What chaos?” Thalia asked.

“I take that as a no. Alright, well I will let Sir Malfus and Princess Echo take the floor on the issue and give you a quick update on what’s going on. Okay, Malfus…Echo, you have the floor.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” they both said before curtseying before me.

“Oh, great. Tiberius’ loser son is gonna give us the news like he does on Earth,” one of the Circle members scoffed.

“Yeah, why do we need to listen to him? He can’t do anything right. No one here takes him seriously. He’s nothing but a failure.”

“Why are you even here? I thought you would want to stay amongst the humans? They are the only ones that find you funny or bearable.”

“Alright, that’s enough. Sir Malfus has done nothing but good for both you and the humans. Let him speak. He knows what he’s talking about. I only know what my mother told me about what’s going on. He knows more about this than I do, so let him talk.”

“Thank you, Echo.”

“Anything for my other brother,” she said before she winked at him.

“Okay, so now that we got that out of the way…I, Sir Malfus Arjun-Padma de Olivier…also known as John William Oliver, one of the most respected satirist and comedians in America…”

“Alright, Arjuna. There’s no need for you to go through your resume theatrically. Alice isn’t here.”

“Well, I’ll get to that in a second, Priya. But thanks for your concern. Anyway, there’s more to the story than just the fact that His Infernal Majesty, Emperor Shamael has been cheating on Her Infernal Majesty with the other ultimate evil, Dark Empress Vlurgen, his ex-wife. Vlurgen has also been causing chaos in Quadrant 4, District 9 aka Middleburg, Pennsylvania with the aid of Lady Montague, willingly and Duchess Jennae Flashe, by force. A victim of their chaos was none other than the lovely Alice Rose Rodgers, who died protecting her family from Vlurgen’s wrath. But there was another victim, this victim being Vlurgen’s own flesh and blood…the daughter she had with His Infernal Majesty while they were married…Xiomara Viore Foster…also known as Sashi Kobayashi. She has made her go insane and now she is very unstable and mentally ill. Since these two violent attacks, Prince Vlad has been suffering from PTSD and has fallen into depression, Jennae decided to quit by her own accord, and the whole community is suffering from the loss of beloved angel, Alice.”

“According to my mother, the illustrious Queen Joy, Sir Malfus brought all of this chaos to the attention of the MPA…by first letting Agent Skylar know. Agent Jewel has also been helping us figure out and piece together the alibis and chaos of the situation that is unfolding in that quadrant and district. My mother, Lady Michelle, Agent Deondra, and Agent Adair were trying to deal with this in secret, however one of the MPA agents spilled the beans and now the whole ordeal is being reported and played all across the multiversal media. The other part of the story that Sir Malfus left out is that Dark Empress Vlurgen got the help from a rogue MPA agent as well as His Infernal Majesty to get to Earth and cause all of this damage in Middleburg. A rogue MPA agent stole the only other QPC in existence and gave it to her and His Infernal Majesty helped her break the barrier around Earth.”

“Oh my gosh,” Circe gasped. “I had no idea that all of this was going on.”

“We barely watch Multiversal news networks anyway, sister,” Thalia assured.

“Well, we didn’t even finish. I got poisoned from a passionfruit…a passionfruit that came from Shalone. My theory is that Shalone is now working with Vlurgen since Jennae dropped out. She intended to poison Her Infernal Majesty but I got the short end of the stick. She gave her a fruit basket with a sex tape of Vlurgen and His Infernal Majesty doing the nasty.”

“What?! Say it ain’t so!”

“It is so, Adanna. It is so.”

“I can’t believe my favorite stepson would do something like this.”

“I knew he would snap eventually,” one of the Circle members said. “I mean he was the ultimate evil.”

“It doesn’t excuse his behavior. Jodi, you deserve better. So Sir Julious, you better not hurt her or I’ll have your half-breed head.”

“You have my word, Dark Lady Adanna. I will take good care of Jodi.”

“So with that, we would like to let Her Infernal Majesty have the floor again,” Echo announced.

“Thank you, Echo and Malfus, for your report. Now that all of you know the truth, I would like to have a ruling on the state of Shamael’s rulership.”

“What will this ruling encompass?”

“We will all decide…in this room…whether or not Shamael can stay or if he will be banished from the Underworld. Either way, he will not be Emperor anymore. Sir Julious will be taking his place.”

“Does this mean you and daddy are getting a divorce, mama?” Mika asked.

“No, we aren’t. But we are separating. He is not allowed in this palace anymore. I will make sure to let Azrael know too. But anyway, let’s start the vote. All in favor of letting Shamael stay, raise your hand and say I.”

_Only four people raised their hands and said I._

“Okay. All in favor of banishing Shamael, raise your hand and say I.”

_The rest of the assembly stood, raised their hand, and said I._

“Well, that’s that. Shamael will be banished when he comes back. Sir Julious and I will be packing his things and leaving them outside of the gate for him to pick up. Well, that’s our meeting. Everyone is free to go.”

After it was said and done, most of the council left except for the few that decided to stay behind to comfort me.

“I’m so sorry to hear what my stepson has put you through,” Adanna told me first before she hugged me. “I had no idea he was putting you through this hell.”

“I had no idea either until the last meeting we had,” Madame Joanni moaned.

“It’s fine, Adanna. I’ll survive. I’ve been through much worse than the sole person that I trusted with my soul betraying me.”

“Oh, you will survive. I trust that Sir Julious will keep you. He’s a good man.”

“I’m fully aware, Adanna,” I said before I went over to him and took his hand. “He’s my king and lover now.”

“Look at our nephews,” Circe said to Thalia. “They really know how to treat women. And they are very loyal to our wonderful empress.”

“I know. I’ve been telling you that myself, sis,” Thalia answered back.

“I promise to take good care of our empress. She’s my top priority.”

“And I’ll be watching him too. It’s my job as his older brother to make sure he’s doing right.”

“We’ll hold you both accountable, Malfus,” Circe assured.

“We will. Take good care of my daughter-in-law. Well, I better go. Lu is waiting for me.”

“Okay, see you later, Adanna,” I said before waving.

“Well, looks like our grand nephew stayed asleep the whole time,” Thalia observed.

“Yeah, he did. He was fighting sleep earlier,” Winona answered back.

“I just noticed that Julious was wearing your choker, Jodi,” Madame Joanni said.

“Yep, I gave it to him.”

“It looks good on you, Julious,” Circe said. “Doesn’t it, Thalia?”

“That it does.”

“Well, we’re gonna go too. Malfus, we’ll be over your place soon. We want to spend a little time with our grand nephew while Kate’s out of town.”

“Just let me know when, Aunt Circe.”

“You know I will. Goodbye everyone,” she said before both of them disappeared.

“So I guess you’re gonna be our new dad then?” Mika asked Julious.

“Yes, your mother has invited me to stay at the palace on your father’s behalf. I will only be a figurehead while she does the actual ruling. But you’ll get used to me.”

“I already kinda am. I don’t mind you at all, Sir Julious. I was just trying to get everything straight.”

“Juli! Juli!” Rachel screamed before she ran over to Julious and threw her arms up for him to hold her.

“Well, hello Rachel,” he greeted before she laid her head on his shoulder.

“I know this is a lot for you to take in, Mika, but it’s for the best. Your father and I just need some space right now.”

“I understand.”

“It’ll be alright, Joanna,” Echo said before she touched her shoulder. “I know what you’re going through, hell both of my children know what you’re going through. My father was the horrible dictator of New Dronyx and I had two failed marriages with men who were more demon like than the demons I actually know. I know what it’s like to be around men that just disappoint you. I know you want to still have a relationship with your father and that’s fine, but you have to admit that he did wrong.”

“I know, Echo. I know. It’s just heartbreaking to know that my father helped cause all of this chaos and betrayed and hurt our family. I know he’s the ultimate evil, but he promised that he would never hurt his family and he did. He hurt mama and he hurt me. I don’t even know how I could look at him the same again,” she moaned before she started to cry.

“Oh, Joanna,” Echo moaned before she hugged her. “It’s okay. Let it out. Your emotions are very valid. You are strong…I know you are strong. You are just like your mother. You will rise. You will overcome. This is just a little roadblock in your life, but you’ll get over it. Life can be hard sometimes, but you can’t let it break you…you got that?”

“Yes, Echo. I understand.”

“Good. Stay strong. I know you can. And just know if you ever need someone to talk to, you can always come to me…”

“Or me,” Malfus interrupted.

“…after you go to your mother and Madame Joanni. I know how important communication is between you three.”

“Thank you for your words of advice, Echo. I love you.”

“Oh, Joanna, I love you too. You’re just as free and sparkly-eyed as Isadora.”

“And I also love you like the daughter I never had.”

“Oh, come here, Sir Malfus,” Mika cheered before she hugged him. “I love you too.”

“Well, I better get going. It’s almost time for my favorite show to come on and I know Isadora is probably waiting for me to get back to watch it with her. Remember what I said, Joanna.”

“I will, Echo. Don’t worry.”

“Good…”

“Wait, Echo, before you go…could you sign my copy of Vulnicura,” Malfus asked.

“Sure. I figured you would get a copy of it,” she said while signing it.

“Of course I would.”

“Well, here you go. Now I’m off. Good day,” she greeted before she spun and disappeared.

“So are you gonna be okay, Joanna?”

“Yeah, I think so. I think I’ll be just fine, mama.”

“Good.”

 

Winona, Madeline, Eric, and Isaac left right after Echo did to check on Hoagie and tend to Hudson back at Malfus’ apartment, but Malfus decided to stay behind to help us pack up Shamael’s things and leave them outside for him to pick up. I also made sure to tell Azrael what was going on and he took my side and decided to help us with our deed. It took 2 hours to pack up all of his things, but boy did it feel good to throw all of his things outside of the gate. Malfus left after the last box was thrown on the other side of the gate and we went back into the palace and tried to cool off by watching reruns of Steven Universe in our viewing room. I was cuddled up close to Julious on one of the couches and he threw the blanket behind us over us while Madame Joanni, Mika, and Rachel sat on the other couch below us and were eating popcorn out of one big bucket.

But then our moment of zen was ruined when I heard Azrael yelling and stomping outside. I ran to see what was the problem and I noticed that Julious followed me to see what was wrong. When we ran outside, we saw Azrael arguing with Shamael who was standing on the other side of the gate.

“Let me in, Azrael! I am your emperor and you must obey me. Let me in! I need to speak with Jodi.”

“I can’t let you in for the last damn time, Shamael. You are not my emperor anymore and I don’t have to take orders from you anymore.”

“Who told you that?!”

“Her Infernal Majesty, herself, told me that. Now please leave the premises and take your things with you.”

“Wait, I see Jodi. Let me talk to her and let me in.”

“You have to talk to her from there, Shamael.”

“Fine, so be it. Jodi! Jodi! What’s going on? Why are my things outside? Why are you not letting me in? Why is Azrael saying that you declared me not emperor anymore?”

I didn’t answer him, instead I just put my head down and cuddled closer to Julious.

“The empress wishes not to speak to you.”

“Sir Julious, my wife can speak for herself. You are out of line. And why are you wearing her choker?”

“I know she can speak for herself, but she doesn’t want to talk to you. I know I might have been out of line as an advisor but now I’m the new emperor. And a better question would be, why are you wearing the perfume that Vlurgen fancies on you?”

“You are really out of line now. You are not the new emperor.”

“Yes, he is. The council decided it. Sir Julious is the new emperor and Her Infernal Majesty’s new lover. And you sir are banished. Take your things and leave the premises. You are forbidden to come here again. If you cross our borders, you will be arrested and throw in our darkest and smelliest dungeon,” Azrael explained.

“I can’t believe this. You can’t do this. Well, at least let me say goodbye to my family.”

“They don’t want to see you! Get the hell out, you disgusting piece of shit! I don’t want to see your lying, cheating ass again!” I shrieked.

“Fine, I know when I’m not wanted. I’m going. I’ll just be out of your hair.”

“Let’s go back inside, Jodi. You have no reason to look at this monster again.”

_And so with that, I divorced my old life with Shamael and jumped into my new life with Julious._


	5. Lady Ayvah Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda bashing PPG 2016 in this chapter. But you'll see when you get to it.

“Ayvah. Ayvah, wake up,” a still and soft voice with a hint of a Londoner’s accent whispered. I was in a daze of a dream throughout my slumber, though, so the voice was only soothing to my ears. I didn’t even bother to make out what the voice was saying. Then I felt a soft touch on my skin which was heavenly and the voice said,

“Ayvah. Ayvah. Please wake up. Michelle invited me to come and I wanted to see you.”

“Xander?” I asked subconsciously.

“Who else do you know with a British accent other than my father and Sir Malfus?”

“Oh!” I moaned before I jumped up to see Xander sitting by my bed. I happily went to where he was and threw my arms around him. “Xander! How long have you been here?”

“I just got here. Like I said, Michelle invited me to come. She told me you were still sleeping so I decided to wake you up.”

“Oh. Well, pardon me. I need to throw something else on.”

“Of course. I’ll give you your privacy,” he said before he walked to my door. “But before I go, I would also like to let you know that Echo and Joy will be joining us.”

“Oh, joy. I will have to find something really nice to wear. Joy and Echo always steal the show with their choices of clothing.”

“That is true,” he said before he walked out and closed the door behind him.

After he left, I rummaged through my closet for about two minutes before I found a dress that could compete with those two’s fashion sense. It was a peach dress with spaghetti straps and it was knee high. The bodice was a decorated with a flowery texture that traveled to the skirt of the dress. The skirt’s flowery ruffles were multi-colored too. I found some of my stilettos too so I slipped them on as well. I settled on one of my gold necklaces and my golden hoops before brushing out my hair and pulling it in a side ponytail and then curling it up more with my curling wand.

Once I got to the main room, I noticed that Joy and Echo were already there, talking to my parents and Xander. Joy was wearing a purple dress that had a four layer ruffles and was full of glitter and her bright red hair was tied up in a semi bun, semi braid style. Echo was wearing her signature lime green circa 2013 again, this time a short dress with popping shoulder pads, long sleeves, a puffed and ruffled skirt and popping purple striping that went around her body many times. And her hair was pulled up in a bun on top of her head with some strands of hair down on both sides of her head and the other hanging stands pulled up in a semi-ponytail on both sides of her head.

I slowly walked into the room after I took in what was in front of me and everyone looked at me before I curtseyed in front of the Queen and Princess and took my seat by Xander on the adjacent love seat.

“Oh, you’re finally awake, Ayvah,” mother said. “I was about to send your father in there to wake you up if Xander couldn’t.”

“Well, there was no need. I am awake now.”

“My, you look lovely,” Joy said. “And you didn’t have to curtesy in front of us.”

“I just wanted to be respectful.”

“You raised her well, Michelle.”

“Thank you, Joy.”

“The dress is very beautiful on you, Ayvah. I knew it would be flattering on you.”

“Wait, you gave me this dress, Echo? I couldn’t remember where I got this dress.”

“Well, who else has an eccentric taste in fashion other than mom and I?”

“You’re right. Thank you so much. I love this dress.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You do look very nice, Ayvah,” Xander said before he kissed me.

“Thank you, Xander. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“How sweet. But I think I should come clean about why I invited you here, Xander.”

“What’s wrong, my lady? Is something going on?”

“That’s a very clear understatement, Xander,” Echo moaned.

“What does she mean?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“It’s about Alice.”

“What about Alice?” Xander and I asked together.

“I’m afraid she’s no longer human.”

“What?” Xander asked.

“She’s dead,” father clarified.

“No. This can’t be true. This can’t be true.”

“It is true, Xander,” Echo assured. “I know this is hard for you to take in, but Michelle’s right.”

“No! She can’t be dead! My father needs her! What is gonna happen to my father?!”

“And how did she die?”

“Vlurgen killed her…at the twins’ Christening celebration,” father answered. “And I’m afraid, your father witnessed the whole thing.’

“No!” Xander cried before he threw himself on the ground and started crying. “How did Vlurgen even get to Earth?! There was a barrier. There was a barrier!”

“Emperor Shamael helped her break the barrier and a rogue MPA agent gave her the other QPC in existence which she used to get to Middleburg,” Echo explained.

“I can’t believe this,” I moaned while still trying to comfort Xander. “So where is Alice now? Has she lost her memory of her human life? Is she Miracle again?”

“That’s classified,” mother assured.

“But she is still alive,” Echo added. “She’s just not human anymore. But that’s all I can say.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t. I hate that bitch! I should have known she would target Alice. She was the source of my father’s happiness and she can’t stand to see my father happy.”

“I know this is hard for you, Xander, but you must stay strong,” Echo started. “Your father is hurt…that I know…but he also has to be strong for Phoenix and Gryffin’s sake. You will overcome this pain. Both of you will. Times are changing and they’re changing for the better. You just have to believe. You are a strong and steadfast young man, Aleksandr. Keep that hope alive. I know young Ayvah Kate will keep you close to her heart. You two need each other more than ever.”

“You’re right, Echo. Thank you.”

“Echo always knows what to say. She gets that from me.”

“I get everything from you, mom. The only thing I get from Delvarus is this jet black, bone straight hair and this nose.”

“And your temperament.”

“And that too,” she moaned. “But we’re not only here to tell you this bad news, we have also come to tell you that you are invited to Maribel and Paulina’s baby shower at The Dronyian Grand Palace today. Mom and I were about to go.”

“Wow, I forgot Paulina was pregnant. We would love to go,” I assured. “Also, do you know what the sex of the baby is yet?”

“They’re having a boy,” Joy answered.

“Aww. How cute. I know that they are both gonna be great mothers.”

“I agree, Ayvah,” mom said. “But yes, we would love to join you.”

“Will you be able to come with us, Xander?” I asked.

“Sure. I could tag along. It beats listening to my mom cackle and gossip with her friends all day.”

“Well then, it’s settled,” Joy assured.

 

Once we made it to the Dronyian Grand Palace, I noticed all of the different women throughout the multiverse entering the grand gates and doors that led to the palace’s interior. By the time we actually got to the entrance, I saw Princess Seraiye of Yaalu and Duchess Jennae Flashe (Xander’s half sister) walking together with Seraiye’s handmaids and servant girls. The guards at the gate bowed as soon as they caught sight of Joy and Echo and then we were greeted by Lady Genevieve.

“Good afternoon! Welcome to Maribel and Paulina’s Deluxe Baby Shower! We’re so glad you could make it. Her majesty was awaiting your arrival.”

“Where is she?” Joy asked.

“She’s been mingling with the guests. So I have no idea where she is. I’ve been relegated to greeting guests as they come in.”

“I see. Well, we’ll find her. Let’s go guys.”

When we got into the heart of the party, we finally found Queen Nathalia talking to Skylar and Jewel in the west wing of the palace.

“Oh my gosh! Hello!” Nathalia cheered before she hugged all of us. “I’m so glad you decided to come…especially you Echo. I know you’ve been very busy with those tour dates and that new album of yours. I really enjoyed it.”

“Thank you, Nathalia. I only took a break for a friend…or two. They need me more than I need the money or notoriety. I already have enough fame on Earth.”

“I can see that. You are considered Iceland’s princess just like you are Monokia Island’s princess.”

“I guess,” she moaned. “I like the decorations.”

“Oh, thank you. That means so much coming from you, Echo. But I didn’t plan this party. Ana and Jodi did and Skylar and Jewel here did the decorating.”

“Wait, Jodi’s here?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s in the front by Ana, Janie, Bindi, Noiri, Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, DeeDee, Priya, and Madeline.”

“Oh, okay. I didn’t see her.”

“Well, we should go back to the front to wait for the guests of honor to arrive. Besides, I wanted to say hi to Jodi again anyway,” Echo said.

“Well, you can go and say hi to Jodi if you want to, Echo. Michelle, Gabriel, and I will stay here until the guests of honor arrive.”

“Fair enough. Would you like to join me, Ayvah and Xander?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t mind. I wanted to see Jennae again anyway. I haven’t seen my sister in a while. I wonder what she’s been up to.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Echo remarked. “But follow my lead.”

“Okay,” we both said before we walked behind her. It was a quick trip to the front too to find them. Jodi actually noticed us first and ran to hug all of us.

“Hey guys. I’m glad you came. Ana and I worked really to plan this party.”

“You know I would do anything for anyone that works to protect the Earth. And Maribel and Paulina are wonderful people. I’m so happy for them,” Echo assured.

“Me too. Oh, and Ayvah, you look amazing. Echo really knows what looks good on you.”

“I try. I try,” Echo bragged.

“And Xander, look at you? Looking more and more like your father.”

“Why, thank you, your majesty.”

“No problem.”

“So how are you and Julious doing?” Echo asked.

“Oh, he’s been wonderful. He’s actually spending the day with Madame Joanni, Mika, and Rachel. He took them to Manhattan to hang out with Malfus. He just sent me a picture of them.”

“Wow, it looks like they’re having fun.”

“Yeah, they are. I’m so happy with him. You don’t even know, Echo.”

“I understand. I’ve been in your shoes a couple of times.”

“Well, you can sit down. We don’t bite,” Ana remarked.

“Okay,” I said before we all sat down. “Hi everyone.”

“Hey!” they all cheered.

“We were just talking about this before you got here, but have you guys seen the new show about the girls?”

“Wait, there’s a new show about Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup?” I asked.

“Yep, there sure is and it’s a disaster,” Janie remarked.

“It really is,” Jodi added. “Mika found it by accident and that was the worst 30 minutes of my life that I’m never getting back.”

“Wow, it’s that bad, huh?” Echo asked.

“Bad is an understatement,” Blossom interrupted. “They portrayed me as a crazy clean Nazi and control freak. I know I was a bit much as a five year old, but I wasn’t that bad.”

“Yeah, and they portrayed me as a weakling. Do you know that I got my arm snapped like a twig by the slap of some cheap rat villain?!” Bubbles shrieked.

“And don’t even get me started on the way they portrayed me and my husband. The guy that got playing my husband looks nothing like him and they portrayed me as some overly violent punk with no remorse. It’s disgusting,” Buttercup spewed.

“The actor they have playing John looks nothing like him too. They just got any random half Asian man with a deep voice they could find on the street to play him. And they don’t even have cool action scenes anymore.”

“That’s because they want us to be seen as normal girls,” Buttercup spewed.

“But we aren’t normal girls and we weren't back then either,” Blossom said. “We were superheroes that also had normal responsibilities. They made a mockery of our legacy.”

“Well I’m glad I usually have a say in anything that involves me,” Echo moaned.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I quickly said.

“I am too. That must be rough,” Xander added.

“Hey, Xander,” Jennae and Seraiye said as they walked behind where he was sitting.

“Oh, hey Seraiye…Jennae.”

“Hey everyone else,” they also said.

“What’s up?”

“What? I can’t say hi to my little brother?”

“No, you can, Jennae. It’s been a minute.”

“Yeah, it has. How has mom been? She’s probably still a nightmare huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much. You’re lucky that she let you go.”

“That’s because I didn’t come out of her womb and I don’t look like her beloved Vlad. I’ve been hanging out with Seraiye and her boyfriend and his cohorts.”

“Hater is the best. I love him so much.”

“Yeah, I’m the only purple thing he likes.”

“You know why he’s like that.”

“Yeah, I know the story. I’m surprised he doesn’t hate green things either.”

“Leave Dee out of it. She’s gonna anyway. She wasn’t worthy of him like I am.”

“See how defensive she gets when it comes to him?”

“How cute. I haven’t been this head over heels for a man since 2001. It’s disgusting to me, actually.”

“Oh, Echo, you don’t think you’ll fall in love again?” Jodi asked.

“Are you kidding me? Hell no. Isadora’s father ruined love for me permanently. I don’t even know what a meaningful relationship is supposed to look like. Mom and Delvarus weren’t together when I was born and even my host parents divorced when I was young.”

“Oh, hey Echo. I haven’t seen you around. How’s the celebrity life been treating you? I got your new album. It’s pretty good.”

“Thank you, Jennae. It’s been good I guess. I guess I just missed home so that’s why I’m back. Well, I did miss two of my friends…Jodi here and Malfus.”

“Speaking of Lady Montague, how has she been since I rejected her treaty renewal between our two kingdoms, Xander?”

“Not good, Seraiye. She’s pretty furious and I have been having to hear it every day.”

“I’m so glad I don’t live with her anymore.”

“Figures. But she’ll get over it. I had to for my Hatey Bear’s sake.”

“No, she won’t. Have you met my mother, Seraiye?”

“Yeah, you’re right. You won’t hear the end of it.”

“Can I get everyone’s attention, please?!” Lady Genevieve yelled. “I am proud to announce the arrival of our guests of honor, Misses Maribel and Paulina Seville-Starr!!!”

Everyone jumped up and cheered as they walked in…well as Maribel walked in while pushing 9 months pregnant Paulina in a wheelchair. They were both wearing the same knee-high dress with spaghetti straps except Maribel’s was pink and Paulina’s was purple. Maribel had her short, curly brunette hair straighten and Paulina had her blonde hair up in a bun that resembled a hair bow.

“Thank you guys for all of this!” Maribel cheered.

“Yeah, really. This was so thoughtful of all of you!” Paulina added.

“Well, Ana and Jodi planned this for you,” Lady Genevieve explained.

“Oh, thanks guys!” they both said.

“Why are you in a wheel chair?” Seraiye asked. “You can’t walk anymore?”

“No, I can’t. I’ve been put on bedrest since my 7th month mark. This baby has been nothing but trouble for me. I’ve been getting sick constantly too. And my beautiful feet are all swollen.”

“What she means is she’s on bed rest so she can’t walk and the swollen feet don't help her cause either. But she’s just as happy as me to be having our own bundle of joy.”

“Yes, I sure am.”

“Well, that’s what it’s like to be pregnant. I’ve done it six times,” Jodi declared.

“I’ve done it six times as well and the first two times, I had more than one…so imagine how I felt,” Ana added.

“I give both of you all of the respect. If Maribel wants another, she’s gonna have to carry them.”

“That’s fine with me, muffin.”

“And that’s why I love her.”

“Well, make yourselves comfortable,” Lady Genevieve interrupted. “This party is for you guys.”

“We sure will,” they both said.

 

The baby shower lasts two hours and it was quite a blast. And it was nice to see that Maribel and Paulina were enjoying themselves too. But there was one thing that bothered me the whole time. And that was the way that Echo and Nathalia interacted with each other. It seemed like Nathalia was trying too hard to impress Echo and make her happy the whole time. It just didn’t make sense to me.

But it wasn’t just that. It was also the way that Echo was acting towards Jennae. She just seemed so fake in her tone of voice she was using to talk to Jennae like she had something against her. But I could really think of any reason why she would not like her. It was just strange. And Xander could tell that it was bothering me too.

“Is something wrong, Ayvah?” he asked once we got to my room. “You look like you’re contemplating something.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Yeah, it is something. You can tell me, Ayvah. I care about you and you know you can tell me anything. You know that, right?’

“Yeah, I know. It’s about the way Echo was treating Nathalia and Jennae at the party.”

“Well, I don’t know why she was acting funny around Jennae, but I know about the whole thing between her and Nathalia.”

“What is this thing between her and Nathalia?”

“You know her father, Delvarus Park Seville?”

“Yes, what about him?”

“Well, he left Joy after she got pregnant with Echo because he didn’t want to be a father but Joy decided to keep her and try to change his mind. She tried year after year to get him to change his mind, but he didn’t. He stayed distant from Echo and Joy gave up. He was just the prince of New Dronyx at the time like Adair. But then after he was kicked out of the MPA by Adair and Deondra, he took over New Dronyx and became a dictator before marrying both of the women that got kicked out of the agency with him, Janitria and Tanisha. They both worked in robotics and technology and made android helpers for him. But there was one android helper that he loved like a daughter. That android helper was Nathalia. She looked like his fallen mother and was created by Janitria. However, she quickly became sentient and fell madly in love with her father figure which came to her advantage…I guess since he fell in love with her but he used her naivety to his advantage. Getting her wish, she fell for his charm and blindly followed him to the point that she killed both of his wives to have him to herself and became his mindless queen. She came to her senses eventually as you can see, but her damage was done. Echo never really forgave her for the sick and twisted relationship she had with Delvarus or the fact that she helped him kill and enslave her people for all of those years. Nathalia is fully aware of the way Echo sees her and she tries everything in her power to change the way that Echo sees her by being the kindest and sweetest Queen of New Dronyx that she can be…but there’s no changing her mind. I mean even Malfus has tried to change her mind, but she won’t budge. I guess Nathalia will have to do something truly amazing to impress Echo.”

“Wow, I had no idea. I feel so bad for both of them. Delvarus was horrible. But I still wonder why she was acting that way towards Jennae.”

“You and me both,” he said before he looked at the magazine on my desk. “Hey, isn’t this your sister?”

“Which one?”

“Jessamy.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. She was on the recent cover of Essence. She gave it to Reina Alejandra to give me while I was visiting with Ravinia and Kasumi. I haven’t seen her in awhile. It’s not like her to not visit our real mother and me.”

“Why are your other siblings so distant from you?”

“Are you kidding me, Xander? They’re always busy. They work for Her Infernal Majesty, the MPA, and they entertain the masses of humans. They don’t have time to worry about little ol’ Ayvah. But I can always watch them on TV. I honestly feel like the only reason why Jessamy visited me as much as she did is because she feels guilty. I mean mother died after giving birth to me and I’m too ashamed to ever visit her because of it.”

“Now Ayvah,” he started before he hugged me. “You can’t blame yourself for your mother’s death. I know she still loves you regardless.”

“I still don’t have the strength to face her. Not yet anyway.”

“I understand. It’s okay. And between you and me, I like little ol’ Ayvah a lot.”

“I love you, Xander.”

“I love you too, Ayvah.”

“Well, I hate to interrupt you two but you have a visitor, Ayvah,” mother announced.

“Hey, Ay!”

“Oh, speak of the devil,” Xander moaned before I elbowed him.

“Hey, Jessamy!” I cheered before I ran over to hug her. “It’s funny. We were just talking about you…”

“Really? Well, what irony. Mama Kaye told me to tell you hi. And say, why do you never visit her again? I mean you live here. And I only get to see her because you’re my sister.   
Anyway, she really wants to meet you. I’ve told her so many great things about you.”

“I just can’t. I’m not strong enough.”

“Okay, fine. Obviously you won’t tell me the real answer so why bother. But what was I interrupting anyway?”

“We were just talking about Princess Echo and Queen Nathalia,” Xander explained.

“Oh, of course. Man, they do have some bad blood.”

“That’s what I was trying to explain to Ayvah.”

“Yeah, Echo has a dark, dark past. That’s why she was totally game for our Earth Pact.”

“Earth Pact?”

“Yeah, Malfus came up with it after remembering the stories his mother told him about Earth. All of your older siblings as well as me, Tiberius’ other two, and Echo agreed to it. But we went at certain times. Tyrus was the guinea pig of the operation but then Echo followed suit and then so on and so forth until I ended up working with Satanya and Malfus.”

“Wow, I remember the stories you told me but wow. I feel really bad for Echo. No wonder she’s always trying to make others feel better.”

“The most kind spirits are often the most brokenhearted.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Wait, excuse me…did you say your sister’s name was Satanya?”

“Yeah, her mother was a Satanist. She actually lives in the Underworld. Father keeps her around, but I’m still usually the one babysitting him because he can never hold his liquor,” Jessamy moaned.

“Yeah, didn’t she actually take her mother’s name for her human disguise.”

“Sure did. So Xander, how’s your mother? Still crazy huh?”

“You know it. She’ll never change.”

“Figures.”

“Jessamy, where were you today? Were you not invited to Maribel and Paulina’s Baby Shower at the Dronyian Grand Palace?’

“I know I was…we all were. That’s why we sent Priya and Madeline to cover for us. But don’t worry, Tyrus and I are probably going to visit them tomorrow to give them our gift…as collective siblings and all.”

“Oh, right. I forgot you usually send Priya to do what you don’t want to.”

“Why are you getting upset with me? We just don’t hang out with your crew.”

“Well, Her Infernal Majesty was there.”

“Yes, and we all love and adore the Empress, but we had important business to take care of.”

“Like what?”

“Like um…”

“Wow, again you all let your double lives get to you. Does acting like you’re human make you all selfish? It’s like none of you care about me because I’m not prancing around acting like I’m something I’m not.”

“What are you talking about?! We all care about you. We all love you but we have responsibilities just like you do.”

“What responsibilities were you handling? Please enlighten me.”

“Fine, we were goofing off. We were playing a drinking game to see whose fangirls, Tyrus or Malfus’, was writing the craziest things about them.”

“Ah, yes. One of your favorite past times. Let me guess, Tyrus won, he can barely walk, and he’s waiting outside in the carriage like you asked him to.”

“Wow, you are very perceptive.”

“No, I just know that Tyrus is just like Father. He can’t pass up a drinking game and he sure as hell can’t hold down his liquor. Why else would he think that character he does with the stuffed weasel and that god awful wig was funny?”

“She does have a point. Not one of his best works,” Xander agreed.

“And I really don’t see why you still play that game because you know that you’re gonna have to be the one to babysit both him and Father.”

“No, not tonight. Samantha is actually staying over.”

“Oh, figures. It’s been a while.”

“Yep.”

“Um, Jessamy, sweetie, your brother is crying and sniffling on our couch.”

“Oh no. I’m sorry, Gabriel. I’ll get him. I’ll be right back.”

When she came back into the room, she was holding him by his underarm as she drag his 160 pound body to the nearest chair in my room. For some reason, he was still in his human disguise and his eyes were bright red, his wrinkles dragged, his greying hair was all over his head and he kept on muttering something in his sleep before he jumped up.

“Is he okay?” Xander asked.

“He’ll be fine. He has the same nightmare when he gets wasted like this. That’s why he should stop drinking.”

“What is the reoccurring nightmare?” he asked.

“No! No! Don’t do it, Malf! He didn’t know! Don’t kill him. No!…No! No! I should have saved him!” Tyrus muttered before he jumped again. “I will never forgive you, Malfus de Olivier!”

“What is he going on about?”

“That’s the reoccurring nightmare, Xander. He tried to stop Malfus and his servants from killing Stewart.”

“Wait, what? I don’t remember this story,” I assured.

“Wait, wasn’t that guy your boss or something?”

“Yep, he was Tyrus, Satanya, and Malfus…and my boss. But there was more history than that when it came to Tyrus and him. Those two were inseparable…”

“So that guy we sometimes see isn’t him?”

“Nope, that’s Jacob. But I’ll explain in a second. Those two had a bromance of epic proportions…and I’m pretty convinced that Tyrus liked him a little more than that too. But anyway, Malfus being as clueless as he can be, he accidentally let the cat out of the bag that we weren’t actually human. So he called us all in for a meeting and told us that once Stewart retired, he was planning to do away with him. We didn’t want to agree, but our mission was compromised and Her Infernal Majesty trusted us with our mission so we couldn’t let that happen. But Tyrus was the most upset. He refused to let anyone put their hands on him. So on the set day, we invited him to our meeting place and Malfus  
instructed Priya, Eric, and Isaac to kill him. Well, Tyrus intercepted him and hid him out in his house while his wife and children were away. He explained to him what was going on, but Malfus was not going to let him live knowing that he knew our secret no matter how much he admired the guy. It was the mission that was the main goal, not the friendships we made with humans. So I was tasked with bringing him back, so I chloroformed him and brought him back to do away with him. I’m not happy with what happened. We all miss Stewart. He was an amazing man, but we just couldn’t be compromised. We all hated that we had to resort to murder to save our skins, but that’s what the situation had come too. To this day, Tyrus has no idea that I intercepted him and sent him to his death sentence. Malfus told me to never tell him the truth and that he would take the blame. Tyrus never really forgave him, but they put on a mask whenever they’re just John and Stephen.”

“That must be hard for Norfatu too then. I mean he took his place.”

“Yeah, he always cries after a taping which the others don’t understand but I always have to be on stand by to calm him down.”

“Wow, that’s deep.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry that we seem selfish to you, Ayvah. We’re sorry that we don’t spend enough time with you. But do you know what it’s like to know that you had a hand in murdering an innocent man that did nothing but treat you with all of the humanity that we never really got growing up. That man was all of our heroes, even to Jarnel, Kendrel, and Cornelius. We all hate ourselves for what we did.”

“But I don’t think that Her Infernal Majesty would have wanted you to resort to murder.”

“She didn’t. It was irrational quick thinking.”

“I’m sorry, but who is Jacob?”

“Oh, right. Well, he’s…”

“He’s an imposter!” Tyrus screamed once he woke up from his drunken slumber. “Malfus thought the humans wouldn’t notice so he made him pose like he was the real Stewart to save our skins.”

“Okay, calm down, Tyrus. He did what he thought was right.”

“How is killing a man that did nothing but show us the humanity we never got the right thing to do? He never did anything to us. He wouldn’t have even known our secret if it wasn’t for Malfus’ carelessness.”

“I know, but you can’t stay mad at Malfus for the rest of your eternity.”

“I miss him so much,” he started to cry again before I went over to hug him.

“It’s okay, Tyrus. I know where he is. He resides here.”

“Ayvah, now you know Tyrus can’t be in the inner sanctums of Elysium. He can only be here because of me.”

“There has to be a way around it. I’ll just see. I don’t want you to be sad, Brother.”

“Oh, thank you, Ayvah,” he cheered before he started to wipe away his tears.

“Okay, well let’s go, Tyrus. You need to get some rest. You know we don’t stay energized like pureblood demons.”

“Right. Well, see you later, Ayvah. I love you.”

“I love you too, Ty.”

“Bye, Ay. Love you. I’ll be back real soon. I missed spending time with you.”

“Wow, that’s deep. I had no idea all of that happened,” Xander said after they left.

“Me either. I feel so bad for yelling at Jessamy and accusing her. I should know that my siblings love me and they have responsibilities just like me. I should respect that. And I shouldn’t be mad at them for embracing their humanity. Actually, I think I’m proud of all of my siblings and Malfus. They overcame a lot, while I was given a silver spoon all of my life.”

“That’s my girl. You may just be little ol’ Ayvah, but I know that both they and I love you very much. You’re special in your own way, and I think that’s pretty neat.”

“I love you,” I moaned before I kissed him.

“I love you too. And I’ll help you figure out how to reunite your brother and Stewart.”

“You’re the best, Aleksandr Van Winkle.”

“I know. I know.”


	6. Lady Paulina Seville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written in late October of 2016, just for some context about some of the comedic relief within. I thought it might balance out all of the sadness in this chapter.

_“Alice is dead. She was killed…by Vlurgen. I can’t believe it."_

I still remember when I heard Maribel tell me that before she broke down crying. It rocked my soul…it broke my heart. I always hated seeing Maribel upset especially as she was when she found that out. My whole world was flipped upside down when I heard the news. And I couldn’t escape it.

Whenever we were out in public within New Dronyx, everyone was talking about it. Alice’s face was plastered all over newspapers, magazines, billboards, and the news. I just couldn’t believe it. Alice didn’t deserve the death she endured.

It felt like everyone’s hope was gone once the news of her death surfaced. I never really knew what Alice stood for until she was gone. She stood for justice and love and hope, the people in New Dronyx saw her as a hero. I guess they are partially right about that. Alice was an amazing person and she did so much for everyone she came across. She was an angel in disguise…a blessing that we never really did appreciate. But then I thought about both Prince Vlad and Sir Malfus. They were both mourning the loss of their precious wife and then what about the twins. They had to live without their mother. Honestly, my parents weren’t the best…but I don’t know what I would have done without them if I didn’t have them as long as I did.

But it was like a train wreck you couldn’t look away from. I found myself always making myself miserable by watching the news and their talk about how the people responsible for precious Alice’s death should be tortured eternally by Her Infernal Majesty in the deepest pits of the Underworld. I felt my skin crawl when I heard that and I almost turned the channel before I heard the report about how Her Infernal Majesty and His Infernal Majesty split. It made me wonder what the multiverse was coming too but it also made me wonder if Vlurgen had anything to do with that too.

“Paulina Elise Starr! What have we talked about?” she shrieked before she snatched the remote from me and turned the channel. “No watching the news. We don’t need you stressing out and hurting the baby. Don’t you want to give birth to a healthy baby boy?”

“Of course. But if not, we could always take Malf’s kid. Priya’s always taking care of him more than Malf and Kate.”

“Paulina, no. Stop it. I hate watching the news now. I just wonder what this multiverse is coming too. It’s bad enough that the Circle New York has to deal with the madness of America and then they come home to see all of this chaos.”

“Yeah, about the nonsense on Earth…I figure Queen Joy is weeping now.”

“I don’t blame her. These humans are acting more demon like than actual demons.”

“That’s because Her Infernal Majesty has tamed them. The half breeds rule the Underworld now.”

“Yes, but just like the supremacists of America, the purebloods are sure to rebel any day now especially since Vlurgen and Sir William are very convincing and will do anything to dethrone Her Infernal Majesty.”

“I hope not. I don’t think I can take anymore pain, Maribel. Oh, you left it on the rerun of Tyrus’ show I missed the other night.”

“Right. Gosh, those poor humans.”

“I know right. I’m glad we don’t live on Earth anymore. It’ll be safer for our son. Aren’t the people running for office a orangutan and a gremlin?”

“Yeah, but we shouldn’t insult orangutans and gremlins. She’s more like a corrupted gremlin than anything else. Gizmo is too cute to be compared to her and same thing with orangutans. I love those little cuties. He’s nothing like those gentle creatures.”

“Are we sure that Sir William and Vlurgen didn’t take human form to ruin the greatest country in the world as a subplot to their madness?”

“Nah, I don’t they’re that clever,” Maribel assured before our doorbell rang.

I wonder who that could be…

“Jessamy! Tyrus! Oh, hello. Hello. Wait, who’s this?”

“This is Samantha, Satanya’s mother,” Jessamy answered.

“Hello.”

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Maribel Grace Starr. Please, come in. Come in. Pauli, we have company!”

“Yeah, I heard, pudding. Hey, Jessamy…Tyrus…and…”

“This is Samantha Benson, Satanya’s mother.”

“Oh, right. Nice to meet you. I’m Paulina Elise Starr.”

“We brought the baby a gift,” Jessamy cheered before she handed Maribel the gift.

“Oh, thank you. Please sit down. Would you like any refreshments? I have some extra pastries that I made this morning and some juice.”

“Oh, no thank you…”

“Speak for yourself, Jess. Could I have some pastries and juice?”

“Oh, sure thing, Ty.”

“Going through another one of your famous hangovers, Ty?” I teased.

“Yeah, I can’t refuse a drinking game.”

“What was the drinking game?”

“See whose fangirls, his or Malfus, wrote the most crazy comments under their pictures on that blogging site Alice used to be fond of.”

“I won by a landslide.”

“Only because those crazy fangirls of yours were going crazy about your special episode,” Jessamy remarked.

“Yeah, the one that Paulina’s watching right now.”

“I can’t believe the humans really have to choose between an orangutan and a gremlin,” I remarked.

“Hey, now wait a minute. Do not compare those two to those cute creatures. That’s just wrong.”

“That’s what I’m saying, Ty,” Maribel assured before she came back over to give him the juice and pastries.

"So what brings you here, Ms. Benson?” I asked.

“Oh, please. Just call me Sammy,” she insisted before she pulled back her long, black hair. “I just have the greatest news and I just had to share it with everyone.”

“Okay, so what’s your news?” I asked again.

“Lezazu proposed. I’m going to be his wife.”

“Wow, really?” Maribel and I both asked.

“Yes, really.”

“Don’t worry. Tyrus and I were shocked too. It’s not like Father to settle down.”

“Oh, enough with your negativity, Jessamy. Can’t you just be happy for me?”

“Yeah, I’m happy for you, Sammy. I’m really happy for you.”

“Thank you. Well, aren’t you gonna open the present?”

“Oh, of course, Sammy,” Maribel assured before she started unwrapping it and opening the box.

Once she opened it, she had the brightest smile on her face which made me wonder what she was looking at before she showed me what was inside.

“Oh, wow. How did I get the feeling that Tyrus came up with the theme of the gift,” I remarked.

“Sammy had a hand in it too.”

“I kinda miss home,” she assured.

“Oh,” I moaned before I watched Maribel take everything out of the box.

“Well, let’s see. Oh, you got him a bunch of Marvel onesies which are all Avengers or Captain America. Oh, this is cute.”

“Well, I guess it’s fitting. He’s probably going to be a hero…an MPA agent like his moms.”

“Well, if not, we’ll still support him.”

“Yeah, as long as he isn’t evil,” I remarked.

“Well, yes of course, dear. Oh and a Captain America teddy bear.”

“Build-A-Bear?”

“Yep,” he happily chirped.

“Figures.”

“Oh and some matching bibs, a Captain America blanket, an Avengers sippy cup, oh and some storybooks that are also Avengers.”

“Wow, just when I thought Malf was too sucked into his human disguise. You’re taking this whole ‘act like a typical white American man’ thing a little too seriously, Ty.”

“What do you expect? He’s been doing this for 52 years now,” Jessamy remarked. “Plus dad dropped him on his head a lot as a child.”

“Hey, hey. You can’t prove that.”

“I don’t have to. I can tell.”

“Well, never mind all of that. Thank you so much, guys. I’m sure he’ll love all of his gifts.”

“Well, now I never have to ask what Ty’s favorite comic book character is.”

“That’s enough, Pauli. If that’s what he likes, then that’s what he likes.”

“Thank you, Maribel.”

“Well, I’ll just put everything back in the box and bring it up to his nursery,” Maribel announced before she took the box and brought it upstairs.

“So I guess he’s gonna come any day now, huh?” Sammy asked.

“Oh, yeah. I guess so. He’s given me so much trouble. I guess, in a way, I deserve it.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m excited…but Maribel is more excited than me…oh! Oh! Oh!”

“Is something wrong?” Sammy asked.

“Oh, no. Nothing’s wrong. Oh!,” I screamed before I touched my stomach. “No…no…I’m not okay. I think he’s coming…now!”

“Oh no,” Jessamy moaned while Tyrus went to the staircase and yelled for Maribel to come downstairs.

“What’s wrong, Ty?”

“It’s Paulina. Her water broke.”

“What?! Oh, my gosh. Just go and help her breathe. I’m gonna start the water.”

“Water? For what?”

“We have no time to get to the hospital. She’s gonna have a natural birth in our whirlpool bathtub. Just help her breathe and I’ll call you when it’s time to bring her up.”

“We have no time, Mari,” Jessamy said while holding my hand while Sammy was holding my other. “We’re just gonna bring her upstairs now.”

“So be it.”

All three of our guests helped me up the stairs and gently laid me down on our bed while Maribel was finishing up drawing the bath. And as soon as she did, they helped me to the tub where I had more contractions as soon as I hit the water. I was freaking out, but I wanted to seem calm for Maribel’s sake. Sammy decided to stay behind to help Maribel help me deliver our son while Jessamy and Tyrus waited in our bed room. To my misery, my labor lasted for a couple of hours, but it was nice that the rosewater was so peaceful throughout my hard endeavor. And when I finally heard his quiet cry, I shed a couple of tears. I was still in pain, but just hearing his crying made me emotional. I couldn’t believe it. I was a mother now. I started to breathe even harder, but I calmed down once Maribel handed him to me while he was wrapped up in a blanket.

“Paulina, we’re mothers now.”

“I know. I’m so happy,” I happily whined while I surveyed him. He had golden blonde hair and Maribel’s beautiful brown eyes. His skin was pale like alabaster but also smooth to the touch. And when I looked into his eyes. I intently fell in love with him.

“Jessamy, Tyrus, come see. We want you to see our beautiful baby boy.”

“Aww!” they both cooed when they saw me holding him.

“He is so precious,” Jessamy chirped.

“What’s his name? Did you decide yet?” Tyrus asked.

“Yeah, we did,” Maribel assured. “But I’ll let Paulina tell you.”

“His name is Jeremy Gable Starr.”

 

And thus our lives as mothers began. And although I loved being a new mother, I hated that I had to be left alone with Jeremy half of the time because Maribel still had responsibilities being a MPA agent and all. I just wanted us to all stay home as a family. But it is what it is. My loneliness didn’t matter, all that mattered was that I needed to take care of Jeremy and rest my now healing body. So that’s what I did.

But one night, all of my darkest fears and worries came to life. It was while Maribel and I were sleeping that I heard Jeremy crying in his nursery through the baby monitor. Maribel was fast asleep, so I got up and picked up with monitor and noticed that their was another figure in the room with him and the only noise I picked up from it were creepy moans. I panicked and threw the monitor on the bed before I ran to see what was in the room with my baby.

Once I got to the room, my heart dropped and I started to feel a little faint. To my surprise, Vlurgen was in the room with Jeremy and she was holding him while scratching his face with her long, sharp blank nails.

“Oh, hello little blonde birdy. Long time, no see.”

“What are you doing here? And let him go.”

“I don’t think I will. You’re powerless. Remember who your master is,” she cooed before she rang a little bell in her hand. I hated that she knew my weakness because every time I heard a bell I would throw myself on the ground, put my hands over my ears, and scream and cry.

“I apologize, master. May I ask why you are here, holding my child like that.”

“Ah, yes. I hear that you are not pleased with my services. So I just came to take my ransom.”

“What? I’m very happy with my son.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. You’re angry with what I did with precious Alice and how I got my precious Shamael back. The multiverse is falling apart just like I wanted.”

“What? That was all you?”

“Of course it was. What did you think? You couldn’t tell I was deliciously evil.”

“I was so naive then, but I am not anymore. I’m done helping you.”

“Oh no you’re not. You want to keep Maribel and Jeremy don’t you?”

“You wouldn’t dare but a finger on them.”

“Oh, yes I would. You can’t stop helping me. It was in your contract. You give me the missing QPC and I get the records you wanted as well as bless you with a baby…that was the deal. You can’t back down. You signed it with your own blood.”

“There’s always a loophole.”

“There is no loophole, Paulina. I blessed you with Jeremy, but I can easily take him away. And I might just have to put Maribel in harm’s way too if you refuse.”

“Don’t you dare hurt her. She did nothing wrong.”

“Fine, I won’t. You’re so pathetic. You had to sign a deal with a demon to impress your precious wife. How stupid. How sad.”

“You’re wrong.”

“We’ll see about that, Paulina. We’ll see,” she moaned before she slowly disappeared.

As soon as she disappeared, I grabbed Jeremy and held him close to me before I sat down in the rocking chair next to his crib and started to cry. Maribel heard me through the baby monitor, so she came to see what was wrong.

“Paulina! What’s going on?! Why are you crying? Is Jeremy okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine. I’m just terrified.”

“Well, what’s wrong, muffin?” she asked before she came by my side and wiped my eyes.

“There was an evil spirit. It was in the room…with Jeremy. She scratched up his face. I thought she was going to hurt him. She attacked me. I was so scared.”

“Oh, Paulina.”

“Wait, you don’t believe me. Just look at Jeremy’s face.”

“Paulina, his face is perfect. It’s actually glowing.”

“Oh. But she was here. I saw here.”

“Okay, Paulina.”

“You really don’t believe me, do you?”

“It just sounds a little preposterous. Who would be after our son? Everyone loves us.”

“Do you even hear yourself? We live in a magical world…we’re MPA agents. We have many enemies. There are plenty of contenders that might want to hurt our son.”

“Never mind that, Paulina. Jeremy will always be safe. We’ll both make sure of that. Now I’m gonna tell Deondra that I’m taking a week off so I can take care of you. We need to be in our best mindset before we show him to our peers.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

 

I tried my best to be calm for Maribel’s sake, but I was still terrified. I felt like I could feel and see Vlurgen’s presence around me at all times, but I couldn’t let her know that. She was planning a get together at the Dronyian Grand Palace for our peers to see him, so I knew I had to put on a face. But not everything went as planned.

The morning of the get together, I woke up to find Maribel gone and I went to see for Jeremy. As soon as I went to his nursery, I could feel Vlurgen’s presence and when I went over to pick him up, I noticed that his face was covered with green lines and his brown eyes were glowing green. Even his body felt cold and burning hot at the same time and it shook me. I was so scared. I started to cry and then ran to get my phone to call Maribel. But she didn’t pick up so I dialed Echo’s number since she was a healer. Luckily, she answered and agreed to come right over. I was still in a panicked mode because I started to hear him hyperventilating under his breath and he just sounded like he was slowly  
and painfully dying.

I left the door unlocked for Echo to just come in and when she came to his nursery, she saw me shaking back and forth by the rocking chair by his crib. I didn’t want to look her in the eyes, but I did notice that her hair was short and curled upwards at the ends and she was wearing a skin tight dress.

“I feel an evil presence in this room,” she moaned.

“I know. It’s an evil spirit that is haunting me.”

“No, it’s not just any evil spirit. It’s the other ultimate evil…Vlurgen.”

My heart dropped when I heard her say that…I hoped that she wasn’t on to my mistake.

“It’s too dangerous for you to stay in this room. Go now! I’ll see about Jeremy, but you must leave. You’re not strong enough to endure her evilness.”

“Of course,” I cried before I ran out and went back into my room. I slammed the door behind me and started crying in my lap on our bed. This was all my fault. I made a deal with a crooked demon and I was paying for it. It felt like an eternity passed as I waited in the room until Echo finally came in the room and tried to explain to me what was going on.

“Echo. What’s wrong with my baby?”

“He just has Dronyian Green Fever. It’s common for babies in this kingdom to catch it. I had it when I was a baby myself.”

“Oh, so I guess he’ll get better quickly.”

“Well, no…not actually. He has a very strong strand of the fever…the kind that kills its victims.”

“Is there anyway he could have contracted it?’

“Maybe from Maribel since she’s been out of the house since he was born…but I’m not sure. But I do have one question.”

“Yes?”

“Why is Vlurgen’s spirit in his nursery? Why is she in this home? Is she targeting you or Maribel?”

“What?! Why would she do that?!”

“I don’t know…that’s why I’m asking you. She usually just does this to foolish souls that make deals with her.”

“I guess she just wanted to mess with someone and I guess I was fragile enough…”

“That doesn’t sound very plausible…but whatever. I already called for an ambulance. His strand is too strong for even me to cure. Maybe the doctors will be able to save his life.”

“I hope so. I don’t know what Maribel would do if he died under my care.”

“Maribel would know that you did everything you could. She would never hate you.”

“Thanks for the reassurance, Echo.”

“No problem…oh that’s the ambulance now,” she announced before she got up. I followed her to the front door where two paramedics came in with a baby gurney.

“Where’s the sick baby?” one of them asked.

“He’s upstairs…” I almost managed to finish saying before Echo came downstairs with him in his arms.

“His name is Jeremy Gable Starr. He has a severe strain of Dronyian Green Fever. He contracted it this morning around 5:00 AM precisely and we found him in this condition at 9:00 sharp. His blood type is O and he has no known allergies.”

“Wow, you’re good. How did you know all of this?” the other paramedic asked.

“I have my ways. I’m Queen Joy’s daughter after all.”

“Well, would you like to ride to the hospital with us?”

“Yes,” I moaned.

The ride to the hospital felt longer than it actually was and it was even worse that I could hear Jeremy’s whooping and heavy breathing the whole time while were in the back of the ambulance with him. Echo could tell how scared I was so she kept on rubbing my arm and telling me that everything was gonna be okay. Luckily, as soon as we got to the hospital, they immediately brought him to the back to examine him and told us to stay in the waiting room until further notice.

The waiting was the most grueling part of the process. I just wanted to cry again, but Echo tried her best to keep me calm. I just felt helpless. I felt alone. I felt like a curse…a jinx…and woman that didn’t deserve to be a mother. I felt disgusting. And even with Echo with me, I felt alone and vulnerable.

After ten minutes of waiting, I heard footsteps coming closer to us although I had my head down in my hands trying to hold back tears. I felt someone touch my shoulder and I looked up to see Maribel sitting on my other side and she was accompanied by Malfus, Jessamy, Satanya, and Tyrus.

“Oh, Paulina. What happened?” Maribel asked before she side hugged me.

“He caught Dronyian Green Fever,” Echo answered.

“Wait, what does that mean? Will he be okay?” Tyrus asked.

“Well, yes and no. Babies are highly susceptible to catching it. I had it when I was a baby myself. The only problem is that he has a severe strain of the virus that could possibly kill him.”

“What? How did this happen?”

“It might be because of you, maybe, Maribel. Paulina has been staying home, but you’ve been out. But there’s another possible variable that’s bothering me.”

“Oh my gosh. I knew I should have stayed home. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Maribel,” Malfus quickly said. “You don’t even know if you’re to blame.”

“Malf is right. What is the other variable anyway?” Satanya asked.

“I sensed a presence in the nursery.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I sensed Vlurgen’s spirit in the nursery. Her energy was highly concentrated around and in Jeremy’s crib,” Echo explained.

“So you’re saying that you think Vlurgen cursed Jeremy with this severe strain of Dronyian Green Fever?” Jessamy asked.

“Precisely. Maribel, have you sensed any disturbances in your house? Do you know any reason why she would be targeting your house and Jeremy?”

“No clue. I’ve never had a run in with Vlurgen once in my life.”

“Hmm, interesting. Vlurgen only torments and targets foolish souls that makes deals with her. It doesn’t seem very plausible that she would be doing this just for shits and giggles,” Malfus deduced.

“Are you sure that…”

“Yes! Yes, I’m sure! I don’t know why she’s tormenting us and hurting our son! I don’t know why,” I screamed before I started to cry again. “I’m sorry, Maribel. I didn’t mean to let him get hurt.”

“Oh, Paulina, no one’s blaming you. I know you would never do anything to hurt us.”

“Yes, Maribel is right. We’re here for you,” Satanya assured.

“Sorry if we scared you. We just want to know why Vlurgen is tormenting you, is all. We’re not blaming you for anything.,” Malfus explained.

“I understand. I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

“Hello,” a nurse said before she came closer to us. “Which one of you is Jeremy Starr’s guardian?”

“We are,” I answered before I took Maribel’s hand and we both got up.

“Oh, okay. Well, you can come to the back with me.”

“No,” I moaned.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s just that I would like for Echo and Tyrus to come to the back with us.”

“Oh, okay. Well, sure. They can come too.”

“So how is he doing?” Echo asked as soon as we went through the double doors.

“Yeah, please tell us he’s doing better. We don’t want anything to happen to our nephew.”

“So you’re his aunt and uncle?”

“What? No, we’re not married. I’m divorced and he has a wife…and a few boyfriends on the side.”

“Thanks for announcing that, Echo.”

“Oh, you know you aren’t ashamed of saying that any other time.”

“Echo and Ty are family friends,” Maribel explained.

“Oh, I see. Is that the same with everyone else that was with you?”

“Yep, we have many friends,” Maribel answered back.

“I see. Well, I am happy to report that Jeremy is making a fast and full recovery. We had to put him in an incubator and a breathing tube since he had some trouble breathing and his lungs got covered in mucus, but he’s starting to miraculously heal. He starting to breathe normally and his fever is going down at a phenomenal pace.”

“Wow, that’s wonderful news,” Maribel chirped. “I’m so glad he’s doing better. I don’t know what I would do if he got worse.”

“Well, there’s no need to worry. He’s doing wonderfully. You can see for yourself,” she assured before she opened the exam room door for us. When we walked in, we saw that Jeremy was hooked up to a breathing machine and he had an IV sticking out of his arm with the bag attached to it full of formula; and he was laying in a medical “crib”. But on the plus side, his heart rate looked fine on the monitor. I also noticed right away that his pale skin tone was restored.

“Oh, look at him. Sound asleep. He looks so peaceful,” Echo said.

“Oh, he does. How long will he have to stay in the hospital?” Maribel asked.

“He’ll be able to return home tomorrow. His heart rate is normal now and his temperature is back to normal, but we still want to monitor him tonight.”

“Oh, thank you. Thank you so much, nurse,” I cried.

“No problem. Your boy is a soldier. He never cried even when we pricked his arm with the IV needle and gave him a medicinal shot.”

“Oh, that’s our boy. He’s as strong as his mothers,” Maribel bragged.

“Of course. Well, I was told to let you see him, but I’m afraid that visiting hours are over.”

“What?! But we just came back here.”

“Tyrus,” Echo moaned.

“I’m sorry, mister. But rules are rules. I was only allow to let you see him for a short amount of time while I was in the room. But you can come back tomorrow morning to visit him again. We probably won’t discharge him until tomorrow night.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go, guys,” Maribel said.

“Well, that was silly and a waste of time. We barely even got to see him,” Tyrus complained.

“Get over it, Tyrus,” Echo moaned. “We’ll see him again tomorrow morning.”

“Echo’s right. We’ll be right by his side again in the morning. Besides, he’ll be back home tomorrow night and he’ll be a happy and healthy baby again. And as long as we’re careful, Jeremy will never get sick like this again,” Maribel assured.

“Yeah, you’re totally right,” I agreed.

_And for her sake, I really hoped she was right._


	7. Princess Echo Penelope Theodosia Seville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Tre or Norfatu is Trevor Noah, Jarnel is Jimmy Fallon, Kendrel is Jimmy Kimmel, and Cornelius is Conan O'Brien.

After we left the Dronyian Royal Hospital, we all decided to just crash at Maribel and Paulina’s house so that we could all head back to the hospital together. And while everyone was asleep, I stayed up all night trying to figure out why Vlurgen’s spirit was staying in their house and targeting Jeremy in the first place. So once I noticed that everyone was knocked out, I headed to Jeremy’s nursery and opened the closed door to find his whole room ransacked. The storybooks were thrown on the ground and the pages were ripped out. All of the pillows and blankets were ripped to shreds and the feathers and stuffing were scattered all over the room. The book shelves and crib were all overturned and I noticed that the dresser mirror had a message written in blood on it. I walked closer to it and it said,

Jeremy will be mine, Paulina. I shall feed on his flesh in the nether regions of Caluga.

The message did shock and startled me, but then again I wasn’t surprised because I knew how crazy and violent Vlurgen was. It was just in her nature. But as I marveled at the eery note in front of me, I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and jumped before I noticed that it was Malfus behind me and boy was he a sight to see. His short hair was all over his head, he had obvious bags under his eyes, and he was wearing a oversized sleep shirt with Alice’s face plastered over it. Basically, he looked like he was really tired, so I wondered why he wasn’t sleeping.

“Oh, hey Malfus. What are you doing up?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Echo. But what happened in here?”

“Vlurgen happened. She must have ransacked the place while we were at the hospital. She even left a scary note behind in human blood.”

“Whoa, she really doesn’t like Jeremy,” he observed. “He must have been the gift she gave Paulina in exchange for the relinquishing of the other QPC."

“That’s the only plausible answer. But we shouldn’t question them any further. We don’t want to seem like we’re harassing Paulina.”

“Seriously. She really freaked out at the hospital.”

“That’s because she doesn’t want Maribel to know. I guess she knows that she would be disappointed and she would never want to disappoint Maribel.”

“I see. I understand where she's coming from. I would never want to disappoint Alice. Gosh, I miss her so much. I’m a mess without her.”

“I can see that. When did you get that shirt?”

“We both got shirts like this. I bet hers with my face on it is still in her house back in Middleburg if Vlad didn’t throw it out yet. I’m only awake because I was having a nightmare about Alice’s fall. God, I didn’t even witness that and the thought still haunts me.”

“So is Tyrus having his reoccurring nightmare, or is he okay?”

“No, I think he’s having a nice dream tonight. He would be talking in his sleep and shouting out how much he hates me if he was having that nightmare again.”

“True. It’s amazing how quickly Jeremy got better though.”

“Quite miraculous actually. That’s all Vlurgen. I just know it. She trying to put Paulina in a false sense of security. We both know that Jeremy isn’t safe, it’s just the matter of when she’s gonna come back for her ransom.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Yeah, I know because I had a vision. Jeremy is gonna die soon…I just don't know when. His days are numbered for sure though. Gosh, it seems like the older I get, the more my future vision goes wonky. I barely know anything about the future anymore it seems.”

“I feel you. Future vision does dull as you advance in your years. But you still look as good as ever.”

“Thank you kindly, sister. But we should probably tidy up in here. We don’t want Maribel or Paulina to see this especially that message. We don’t want to scare her more.”

“Agreed.”

So we tried to put everything back in its place and then we both decided to go back to sleep. The next morning came in a heartbeat and both Malfus and I refused to wake up even though we both smelled the scent of pancakes, coffee, and Earl Grey Tea. But when we actually did, we noticed that everyone else was gathered at the table having breakfast while we were just yawning and rubbing our eyes.

“Well, good morning, sleepyheads,” Paulina teased. “I thought you two weren’t gonna wake up.”

“Oh, that’s the Paulina we know and love,” I teased back.

“Yeah, good morning, guys,” Malf moaned before rubbing his eyes again.

“Damn, you look terrible, Malf.”

“Thank you so much, Ty. I’m actually very aware of that.”

“Alright, you two. It’s not the time to be fighting,” Jessamy moaned before taking another sip of her coffee.

“Fine, you’re right, Jessamy,” Ty moaned before he folded his arms and then unfolded them before taking another bite out of his pancakes.

“Well, you two can come and eat. I know you must be starving. You know Ty’s is just in one of his moods,” Satanya remarked.

“Maribel!” Ty screamed after Malf and I sat down.

“Yes?”

“Do you have any vodka or rum or something that I could put in this coffee?”

“Ty, now you know you don’t need that.”

“Stay out of this, Jessamy! You don’t know anything about my life.”

“Now, Ty, you shouldn’t talk to Jessamy like that. You know Stewart would expect better of you,” Satanya moaned.

“Why would you bring him up right now?!” he shrieked before he started to cry.

“Oh, Ty,” Maribel moaned before she came over to his side. “It’s okay. Just breathe. Breathe. Look, I know you miss him…you all do…but I assure you that he’s in a better place and I’m sure he’s so proud of you. You’ve come so far. And Satanya’s right. He would expect better of you. But it’s gonna be alright.”

“You don’t understand, Maribel. I love him. I loved him so much!”

“I know you did,” she assured before she hugged him. “But he’ll always be with you in spirit and you have all of the wonderful memories that will always be with you. He wouldn’t want you to be sulking like this. I know he wouldn’t.”

“Oh, you’re right, Maribel. Thank you,” he whispered before he started crying again. “Sorry. Excuse me. I need some time alone.”

“And as for you, Malf,” Maribel started after Ty ran upstairs. “You need to stop sulking over his death and Alice’s. You’re letting this control your life. You know damn well that neither one of them would want you to be sulking over them like this. They would want you to move on with your life and be happy. That’s all they wanted for you…they loved to see you happy. How are you making them proud by being like this? I know you’re sad and I know you miss them both dearly, but you can’t bring them back. I’m sorry to say that. I know it’s hard to lose the ones you love, but they would want better for you.”

“I know that, Maribel. It’s just hard sometimes. I just feel so guilty all of the time.”

“Malf, you made a mistake.”

“A mistake that cost an innocent man his life that I willingly took…and all for the goddamn mission. I don’t know what I was thinking at that moment. I lost all of my humanity. He didn't deserve to die like that. He never did anything to us. He showed us all of the humanity that we didn't receive at all growing up. And now Ty hates me…I mean we used to be so close…and it’s all my fault. I’m just a screw up. That’s all I am and that’s all I’ll ever be. I don’t even deserve to live anymore.”

“Malfus,” Maribel moaned.

“No, just forget it. It’s not about me. I don’t feel hungry anymore. I need a moment alone,” he moaned before he left and ran upstairs too.

“Oh my gosh, what have we done?” Jessamy asked Satanya.

“Looks like we opened up some old wounds. Our bad,” she moaned.

“I should probably see about them,” I volunteered.

“Yes, please. Maybe they’ll listen to you,” Maribel insisted.

So after I finished my breakfast, I went upstairs to find Malfus crying in fetal position of the floor of Jeremy’s nursery. It always broke my heart to see him so worked up. I mean he was like a brother to me and it was weird to see someone as sweet and happy-go-lucky as he so distraught.

“Malf?”

“Yeah, Echo?” he moaned.

“I’ve been keeping something from you…”

“What do you mean?” he moaned over his tears before he turned himself over.

“I know where Stewart is and I know what he thinks of you now.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I do. He’s in Elysium under the care of another one of our loved ones. I actually visited him recently with mother. I actually recorded what he said about you at that trip. I have the recorder with me,” I assured before I handed it to him. “He’s very happy where he lives now. He forgave you for what you did. I explained everything to him. He understood everything. Yes, he was angry before but he forgave all of you. He also told me that he would have kept your secret.”

“Echo, I can’t believe you did this for me. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, brother. You needed this closure,” I assured before I hugged him.

“Hey, can I keep this recording?”

“Sure, it’s all yours, brother.”

“Wait, what are we gonna do about Ty? He still hates me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell him. Mother trusts you to keep this a secret. You can’t tell them what you know. It’s not time for them to know that he’s safe and taken care of.”

“Figures. But we need to cheer him up. We have to go back to the hospital soon.”

“You’re right. I’m gonna go talk to him and try to calm him down.”

“Good luck. I’m gonna go put something else on.”

“Thanks, brother,” I moaned before I went to one of the guest rooms where Ty was lying on the ground looking at a picture of him and Stewart in his hands. His pale face was red as a tomato and he was soaked in his own tears.

“Ty,” I moaned.

“What? Oh,” he jumped before he shoved the picture in his pocket. “I wasn’t crying over an old picture of us. I was totally not doing that.”

“You don’t have to hide anything from me, Ty. You can just be honest with me.”

“You know how you were kidding about my many boyfriends on the side?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, he was one of them. That’s why I miss him so much. I loved him so much.”

“Yes, I know, Ty. I already knew that you guys were dating. I do have future vision no matter how wonky it is now.”

“I forgot about that. I’m just so worked up right now. It’s hard to keep on reliving the murder of your most beloved lover.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. Look, I know you hate Malf because what he did, but you can’t stay mad at him forever. Stewart would’t want you two to fight. He loved both of you. I’m sure he misses you too, but I’m sure he would want you to be strong and keeping living your life. You wear a smile well, Stephen. Don’t you ever forget that.”

“Wow, you never call me by my human name.”

“I thought it was fitting for this discussion. But anyway, I think he would have wanted you to have this,” I said before I handed him a shirt with his face on it. “Why should Malf have all of the fun with his shirt with Alice’s face on it.”

“Oh my gosh. This is amazing,” he chirped before he held it close to him. “Thank you, Echo. You just made my entire day.”

“You’re welcome. But don’t wear that to the hospital.”

“Oh, I won’t. I already have an outfit for the hospital.”

“Good, well you should get ready. We’ll be heading over to the hospital very soon.”

“Right. Well, I’ll get to it,” he assured before I walked out.

After that fiasco was taken care of, we all got ready to go back to the hospital and then hung out in the living room while Maribel and Paulina were busy cleaning up the kitchen and getting dressed. We headed right to the hospital after that and we just happened to bump into the nurse tasked at watching him and caring for him during the night, once we got there.

“Nurse Allie!” Maribel chirped.

“Oh, hello Mrs. Starr and Mrs. Starr. You’ve come just when visiting hours begin.”

“Well, of course, we came to pick him up. He’s being discharged today,” Paulina remarked.

“Actually, he’s gonna have to stay in the hospital.”

“What do you mean?” Tyrus asked.

“We think he might have had an allergic reaction to the medicinal shot. His face is broken out in hives and he lost all sight in his right eye. His face is even more green than when you brought him and his lungs are covered in more mucus than before.”

“Was this medicinal shot even used before to treat Dronyian Green Fever victims or was this just a trial medicine?” Echo asked.

“We’ve used this treatment before. This never happened. We don’t know what happened.”

“What’s gonna happen to him then?” Paulina cried.

“We kept him on the breathing tubes and the IV but he probably won’t live longer than the rest of the week. We’re so sorry. We did all that we could. But we will allow you to pull him off the plug on your own accord and say your goodbyes.”

“No! No…no…no!” Paulina cried before she threw herself on the ground. “Why?! Why did this happen?!”

“Oh, Paulina. It’s okay,” Maribel whined before she started crying too. “It’s okay.”

“Can we see him now?” Ty asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“He means all of us,” Echo insisted.

“Of course. Please come with me.”

We all huddled up together and followed Nurse Allie to Jeremy’s room. The sudden quiet that we felt was too much even for me. I just couldn’t believe it. Malfus was right. Vlurgen was trying to trick us into a false sense of security. But then again, most of the time Malfus was right.

Once Nurse Allie opened the door, Maribel, Paulina, and Ty all burst in to look at Jeremy in his incubator. More wires were stuck to his body and he had a breathing mask over his face and he had two IV needles sticking out of each arm. His face was fully green and he kept on heavily breathing under his mask. Immediately, all three of them started crying and touching the incubator with one of their hands while Malfus, Jessamy, Satanya, and I stood behind them trying to hold back our own tears.

“I’ll leave you now,” Nurse Allie assured before she walked out and closed the door behind her.

“Oh, my poor baby. He didn’t deserve this, Maribel. He didn’t deserve this.”

“Oh, Paulina. I know. I should have listened to you. This is definitely the work of an evil spirit. I should have done more to protect him…I shouldn’t have expected you to do it all on your own.”

“Curse you, Vlurgen! You’ll rue the day that you harmed my precious nephew!” Ty screamed. “I’m so sorry this had to happen to you, little buddy. I can’t help but think of all the fun times we could have had. I was gonna spoil you so much, your mothers would have barely had you. I even brought the bear I got you. I guess I’ll keep him now. It’ll always remind me of you. It’s just…I love you, man. God, I haven’t been this emotional since my host mother died…I hope that Mama Kaye, Lady Michelle, and Lord Gabriel will keep your soul.”

“Oh, it’s okay, Ty,” Jessamy assured before she ran over to hug him. “This is hard for all of us.”

“Why did this have to happen?” Satanya cried while Malfus was trying to console her. “Was this our punishment for murdering an innocent man?”

“I don’t know, Saya. I don’t know,” Malfus moaned.

“No. I won’t believe it. If Stewart had his way, he would never hurt an innocent child. He wouldn’t do that. This is all Vlurgen. She’s a monster,” Ty insisted.

“You’re so right, Ty,” Satanya whined.

“Guys,” I started before taking a deep breath. “Everything happens for a reason. I know none of us wanted Jeremy to suffer for our many sins, but I know that he will be cared for in Elysium once he gets there. Take his death as a call to action. We’re not gonna sit here and sulk anymore. We’re taking back our multiverse and our freedom and our dignity. We’re not gonna let Vlurgen or any other evil force win.”

“Hell yeah. I won’t rest until Vlurgen pays for what she did,” Ty assured.

“That’s the spirit. We’re The Circle New York, goddamn it! We don’t follow the rules, we make the rules and we don’t let anyone step on us. We made a pact to protect Earth and the rest of the multiverse and we’re not gonna give up just because of one threat, are we?!”

“Hell no!” they all cheered.

“Guys,” Maribel moaned.

“No, Echo’s right,” Jessamy assured. “We’re gonna avenge Jeremy’s death. We’re going to.”

“You guys are the best,” Paulina said.

“Yeah, we know,” Satanya insisted.

 

So Maribel and Paulina decided to pull the plug that following Wednesday to give everyone they loved enough time to say hello and goodbye to poor Jeremy. Meanwhile, I decided to crash at Malfus’ place since all of The Circle New York was tasked with funeral plans and also, I missed living with my brother and hanging out with him as much as I used to before we made the Earth Pact.

On my second day of crashing there, Priya, Madeline, Eric, and Isaac came to help us with planning while Julious accompanied Her Infernal Majesty, Princess Mika, Princess Rae, and Madame Joanni to visit Jeremy in the hospital. I was really tired since I couldn’t sleep, so I was just lying restlessly on the sofa while I watched them go over all of the expenses and the planning.

But then Malfus started acting weird like he was having a vision and he just blacked out for awhile which freaked all of us out. So Priya insisted that Eric and Isaac help him to his room while they finished the planning. I was a little worried though. I had never seen him do that before.

“Is he gonna be okay?”

“Arjuna? Oh, yeah. He’s just having another vision,” Priya assured.

“But he never has convulsions like that or blacks out like that.”

“That’s because he’s having a nightmare vision.”

“Nightmare vision?”

“I thought you had future vision too? Don't you know what a nightmare vision is?”

“No, I don’t.”

“A nightmare vision is a normal vision with a traumatic trigger. Something tells me this has to do with Stewart or Alice or both.”

“What? Why are you just sitting there so nonchalantly?”

“Calm down, Echo. Arjuna has nightmare visions all of the time. It’s nothing out of ordinary. He’ll be fine. He’s stronger than you think.”

“I understand that, Priya. But I still want to check on him.”

“Fine, be my guest.”

I couldn’t believe how much Priya didn’t care about his situation, especially because she was usually always there to aid him whenever he got himself in a sticky situation. It just didn’t seem normal for her to be acting like that. But I guess she was so worked up with everything that was going on, that she just lost some of her compassion.

But my time of reflection faded away as soon as I made it to his room door. Eric and Isaac both walked out as soon as I walked in and told me good luck before they walked away. I just sighed and went deeper inside his room to find him half asleep under his sheets. He looked like he was reaching out for something, which surprised me so I just stayed by his side for a little while trying to make out what was going on before he moaned,

“Alice? Alice, is that you?”

“No, no, Malfus. It’s Echo. Alice isn’t here. She’s dead, remember?”

“No she’s not!” he assured before he threw his glass of water at me. “She’s alive. She lives. She’s Miracle now. She’s coming back. She’s coming back for me.”

“Malf, snap out of it. I know you’re having a nightmare vision.”

“Stay away from me, evil spirit! Miracle will be mine. She’s coming back for me. She didn’t forget about me. You’re lying to me to trick me.”

“I’m not. I’m Echo. Snap out of it!”

“Never!” he screamed before he shed his human skin and exposed his monstrous, large naga demon form. I tried to run away, but he grab me and roared at me. “Leave now, monster. Or I’ll do away with you myself.”

“The only monster here is you. Why would you try to hurt your sister?!” I spewed before I slapped him.

“Echo?”

“Now you remember?” I sarcastically asked before he dropped me and turned back to his human disguise. But it wasn’t his usual human disguise. It was his tortured and bruised form marked with all of the bruises and scars Tiberius inflicted on him. He kept on breathing really hard before he noticed that he was naked and ran to throw on some boxers and jeans before I would really notice.

“What just happened?” he asked before he held his head.

“You had a nightmare vision.”

“What? I attacked you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but I’m okay,” I moaned before holding my arm where he scratched me with his claws.

“No, it’s not okay,” I moaned before he ran to his bathroom and came back with peroxide and a bandage. “I’m so sorry, sister. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“It’s fine. Does this always happen like this?”

“Unfortunately, yes. That’s why Priya and Julious don’t both to help me when I’m like this.”

“Oh, that’s why. But why does this happen like this?”

“Ty isn’t the only halfbreed around here that acts like his father. I have anger issues and temperament issues just like Tiberius. I’ve tried my whole life to keep my anger and stress in check because I turn into a reckless monster. It’s hard to keep the ruthless, wicked demon at bay no matter how hard I try to embrace my humanity. Tiberius’ evil aura consumes me and I can’t conceal it forever. And with all that’s been going on in the multiverse, there’s only so much self-control I have left.”

“Well, that’s terrible, brother. But what was this vision about?”

“It was about Alice. She’s coming back, Echo. I know she is. But I guess I wanted to believe that you were Alice.”

“I see. Look, Malf, it's gonna be okay.”

“Yes, I know you’re right. I’m sorry, I just miss her so much.”

“I know you do.”

“Thank you. Well, I’ll meet you downstairs. I have to cover up some of these bruises with concealer.”

“No you don’t. You’re perfect just the way you are."

“Yeah, I do. Well, I’ll at least put on a shirt. I’m not that flattering to look at.”

“Why are you always downing yourself?” I teased before I walked out of the room. I just giggled to myself about the thought before I went back by Priya and Madeline.

“You hungry?” Madeline asked me as soon as I sat down.

“A little. Why do you ask?”

“Eric and Isaac went to pick us up some Chinese. You want some?” Priya explained.

“Sure.”

“Okay, I guess I have to call them back then,” Madeline moaned before she got up with her phone in her hands.

“She should have known. It’s not my fault Eric and Isaac are fast. They’re always trying to suck up to their master. So how is the master now anyway?”

“He’s fine. He’s covered in scars now.”

“Typical. That’s not out of the ordinary after a nightmare vision.”

“I had no idea all of that happened.”

“Yep, but I should have told you. That way you wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the process,” she said as she noticed my bloody bandage on my arm.

“I’m fine. It’s just a light cut. I’ve survived flesh wounds many a times.”

“Well, okay. Arjuna has a lot of baggage and our father’s evil energy is more concentrated inside of him. He’s the oldest so that’s what happens. Why do you think Ty acts so much like Lezazu? They’re both goofy, have way too many sexual partners, and are always getting drunk…it’s just that Ty was smart enough to be bisexual and have more male partners so he wouldn’t have thousands of bastard children like Lezazu. But anyway, Tiberius would purposely torture and belittle Arjuna to make him evil. He knew that he admired Mama Padma more and embraced his humanity more, and that infuriated him. Tiberius only agreed to have children for Mama Padma’s sake and the fact that his eldest son refused to  
follow in his footsteps angered him. We’re nobility, it was just custom. I mean sure he was Prince Vlad’s advisor before the Fall of Caluga, but that didn’t please him because Vlad was as sweet as he. Sure, he kills a couple of humans if they stab him in the back or breach their contracts, but he always feels guilty about it…which also angers Tiberius. He shouldn’t feel bad about his killings. But every day for him is a battle of good and evil that is even worse than the same battle in a human. He does everything in his  
power to make Mama Padma happy and help fellow humans, but he knows that he can’t always keep his evil at bay. Tiberius will never be proud of him. And deep down, he knows that. He knows that he sees him as an embarrassment. That’s why I wish Alice was still here. She always helped keep him level headed. I mean you’re a wonderful friend too, Echo. But Alice was his everything.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Wow, I mean I knew all of that, but it hurts hearing all of that again.”

“Okay, so Eric and Isaac are getting vegetable lo mein, shrimp fried rice, general tso tofu, sweet and sour shrimp, and vegetable spring rolls,” Madeline announced as soon as she came back in the room. “Wait, did I miss something?”

“I was just explaining Arjuna’s nightmare vision problem.”

“Oh, I see. I don’t know if Priya brought this up, but Alice reminds him of Mama Padma. They both do wear a lot of white.”

“Figures,” I moaned.

“Hey everyone,” Malfus moaned as soon as he walked back into the den.

“Hey Arjuna. You feeling better?”

“Yeah, I am. Are Eric and Isaac getting the Chinese?”

“Yep, they sure are as we speak.”

“Good. I’m starving,” he moaned before he sat down on the sofa next to me. “How’s your arm?”

“It’s fine. It’s just a little sting. I’ve survived flesh wounds many a times.”

“Oh, okay. I just feel bad.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m a fast healer. It’s a part of being a healer like my mother.”

“Right, I forgot.”

“You seem to forget many things, old friend,” we heard a voice say before a cloud of smoke appeared before our eyes and a silhouette appeared before it took on its stable form and fell on the floor.

“Stephen?!” Priya yelled after she noticed that it was him.

“Wow, I love that you call me that whenever I scare you.”

“What are you doing here, anyway? I know you and Malf are on good terms again, but why?” I asked.

“Yeah, weren’t you supposed to be on a picnic date with Evie?” Malf asked.

“I was…but then I got bored so I came here. I heard Eric and Isaac were picking up some Chinese food and I want in.”

“You got bored? How does Evie put up with you?” Madeline asked.

“I really don’t know. It’s a miracle actually.”

“And why did you just poof here? You two live a block away from us,” Priya remarked.

“I just felt like poofing here. So how much planning have you done for my nephew’s funeral?”

“We got most of the planning and all of the expenses calculated actually. Queen Nathalia can’t host it though because she’s having dignitaries from another sector of the multiverse visit so we already got in contact with Her Infernal Majesty and she agreed to host it in the Underworld.”

“Okay,” he nodded.

“Alright, we’re back everyone,” Eric announced. “Sorry it took so long. That guy barely spoke English.”

“So I spoke Mandarin,” Isaac explained. “But he spoke Cantonese and took offense to that. But then his hot daughter came out and took our order. She just laughed off the confusion and explained the situation before handing us our food. I got her number.”

“Wow, we really can’t let you two do anything alone,” Madeline moaned.

“How is she gonna handle the whole you being a demon thing?” Priya asked.

“I have no idea. We’ll figure it out as time goes on.”

“Say, what is Ty doing here?” Eric asked.

“You could just ask me yourself. I am sitting right here.”

“Yes, and you made yourself very comfortable,” I remarked since he was sitting on the other side of me and perched his pasty legs and wrinkly feet on my lap.

“Thank you. You make a really good foot rest.”

“No, no. I’m not Evie. I will strangle you,” I threatened before I made my eyes quickly change color and showed him my fangs. “You seem to forget that my father was an evil warlock and dictator…and I have his temperament. I will mess you up.”

“Message received,” he cowered before he lowered his feet and legs. “I’ve never really seen you that threatening before. You never really raise your voice.”

“I don’t need to. Most people get the point. They know what I’m capable of because they know who my father is.”

“But we all have frightening fathers.”

“No, Echo and I…as well as Priya and Krishna have frightening fathers. Lezazu isn’t scary. He just likes to play like he’s tough. That’s why he goes after vulnerable human girls like Her Infernal Majesty before she was our empress,” Malfus remarked.

“You act like you don’t know your father,” Priya added. “He’s just a goofy, alcoholic, sex addict…you know, kinda like you. You just have the common sense to fuck more men and not have a bunch of illegitimate children.”

“I also know how to use a condom unlike my father.”

“Touché,” Priya answered back.

“So the question still stands. What are you doing here, man?” Eric asked again.

“Yeah, weren’t you supposed to be on a picnic date with the misses?”

“How did you know that, Isaac?”

“I saw your Instagram post,” he assured before he took out his phone.

“Oh, right. I forgot I posted that. So anyway, what’s in the bag?”

“Nothing for you. We didn’t know you were coming,” Eric declared.

“Don’t be selfish,” Malfus started. “He’s here now so let’s just share. It’s fine.”

“Okay, master,” they both moaned before they took the bag into the kitchen.

“You’re gonna be in trouble real soon,” I moaned.

“Why?” he asked me.

“Evie’s on her way over here and none of us are going to cover for you,” I assured.

“What…did you just have a vision or something?”

“Three…two…one…” as soon as I finished saying one, the doorbell rang and Madeline went over to ring it and guess who was at the door…Evie…just like I thought.

“You were saying,” I teased before Malfus started giggling to himself.

“Hey, Evie,” Madeline greeted.

“Oh, hello Maddie. I was looking for my husband. Is he here by any chance?”

“Oh, what happened? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“We were supposed to be on a picnic date…then next thing I know, he drinks too much wine and poofs away while I was on the phone with our daughter Madeleine.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. You deserve so much better, girl. And how is Madeleine doing at school?”

“Oh, she’s doing great. I’m so proud of her. She has a 4.0 GPA and is in SGA.”

“Well, that’s great news. I’m so proud of her too. We have to stay focused and sharp in college. I was the valedictorian of my class at NYU.”

“Wow, that’s really impressive. You’re an intern for John’s show, right?”

“Yeah, I was. I'm a full time reporter now.”

“Okay, that’s what I thought. I keep forgetting.”

“Oh, it’s fine. And to answer your previous question, he is here. He just poofed here a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oh, thank you. Stephen Tyrone Colbert! You’re in big trouble!” she screamed after she walked in. “Oh, hello guys. What’s going on here?”

“We’re planning our nephew’s funeral,” I explained.

“Oh, right. Stephen was telling me that before he poofed away. Tyrus Radcliffe Adams! Where the hell are you? I know you’re here.”

“He’s hiding, Evie,” Priya snitched.

“Oh, I hear him whimpering like a dog. Thanks, Priya.”

“No problem. You took one for the team.”

“What do you mean?”

“You married him and stayed with him for 20+ years.”

“Touché,” she moaned until she followed the whimpers to Malf’s coat closet. “Hiding in the closet, I see?”

“Funny how he would hide in there,” Priya remarked.

“Oh, hey, babe. I didn’t mean to walk out on you like that.”

“Technically, you poofed here,” I remarked.

“Please don’t help, Echo.”

“Oh, sweetie, it’s okay. We’ll talk about this later. Now, we’re gonna finish that picnic whether you like it or not,” she demanded before she took him by his ear and dragged him out. “Don’t act like you can fool me with your little demon tricks. You’re lucky I put up with you and your nonsense.”

“Seriously,” Priya, Madeline, and I moaned.

“Okay, we set out all of the food to serve…” Eric announced before he paused.

“Oh, hello Eric. I just came to pick up Stephen. I’m sorry if he was bothering you.”

“No worries,” Malfus started. “It’s always a joy to catch up with this joker. Have fun in the doghouse.”

“Thank you, John. Alright, let’s go, troublemaker. And no more wine for you.”

“That was weird. Well, at least we don’t have to share with him too,” Eric moaned after they left.

“Did I ever mention how much I love Evie,” Madeline suddenly said.

“No, you never did, but she is fucking awesome,” Priya agreed.

“I snuck a picture of him getting in trouble,” I added. “I just sent it to Satanya and Jessamy. They’re laughing their asses off.”

“Figures. I’m sure Jessamy is enjoying her day off from being his babysitter,” Malf moaned.

“Chinese, anyone?!” Isaac asked enthusiastically.

“Hell yeah!” we all cheered before we ran into the kitchen.

 

The day after Maribel and Paulina pulled the plug on Jeremy, Malfus and I hosted a Circle meeting at our headquarters in NYC to talk about our planning and preparation for Jeremy’s funeral. Of course, Her Infernal Majesty and Madame Joanni were invited since they were going to be hosting the funeral. And to my surprise, Jarnel, Kendrel, Cornelius, and Tre (Norfatu) weren’t too busy to come to the meeting.

Jessamy texted me that she was bringing Ayvah with her and Ty was with them since they were all in Elysium. Apparently, Ty and Ayvah spent the morning together while Jessamy was visiting Mama Kaye, but she let me know that her visit was cut short since Mama Kaye basically booted her out of the house for some strange reason.

So we were all waiting for them to show up even after Her Infernal Majesty and Madame Joanni showed up. Exactly twenty minutes after they arrived to the meeting, Jessamy, Ayvah, and Ty showed up. Jessamy and Ayvah were talking while Ty was hungrily nibbling on a cookie. I also noticed that Ayvah was cradling a locket in her hands.

“Hey, Ayvah!” Tre chirped.

“Tre! Jarnel…Kendrel, Cornelius!” she cheered before she ran to hug all of them. “I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in forever.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. You know my host mother has been sick for some time, so I’ve been helping out my host father take care of her when I’m not busy with the show,” Tre explained.

“And both of our wives are pregnant,” Jarnel and Kendrel said.

“I know how that is. Hormones, am I right?” Ty joked after eating the rest of his cookie.

“What’s your excuse, Cornelius?” Jessamy asked.  
“I don’t have one. Sorry, sis.”

“I forgot that you were the asshole of the family,” Jessamy sneered before she took her seat next to Satanya. “Well, no matter.”

“So, Mr. Hormones, how was your night in the doghouse?” Satanya asked.

“Oh, it was fine. Evie totally forgave me like she always does. Then we had makeup sex and then I called my personal manservant and had sex with him. It was a pretty good night, actually.”

“Wow, you’re really lucky she’s a very forgiving woman,” Madeline moaned. “How a religious woman got with a goofy half breed like you will always elude me.”

“Well, on that disturbing note, um Ayvah…what do you have there?” I asked.

“It’s a locket. Mama Kaye gave it to Jessamy to give to me. She put a picture of herself in it and a note. I’ll treasure it forever.”

“Well, at least until you’ll actually have the courage to meet her.”

“Shut up, Cornelius. She’ll meet her when the time is right,” Jessamy responded. “But I have another point to make about my trip.”

“Mama Kaye made cookies,” Ty announced. “We left them in the carriage.”

“Hell yeah!” Jarnel cheered. “I love her cookies.”

“We all do,” Satanya remarked.

“Yes, anyway before I was rudely interrupted, I think Mama Kaye is hiding something.”

“Does this have to do with that text you sent me about her basically booting you out of the house?”

“Yes, it does, Echo. Mama Kaye’s hiding not something but someone. And I think it’s Stewart.”

“What?!” Ty excitedly asked before he jumped up and hit the table. “Did you just say what I think you said, Jessamy?!”

“Yeah, we all heard it, Ty. Now calm down and sit back down,” Satanya hissed. “As you were saying, Jessamy.”

“Wait a minute. What proof do you have of that claim, Jess?” Malfus asked.

“Uh, I heard a voice while she was busy kicking me out of the house and it sounded just like Stewart’s. I mean come on. He has a distinctive voice.”

“That he does.”

“Ty!” everyone yelled except for me and Ayvah.

“Sorry. I’m just excited. I really hope that all of this is true.”

“But not only that, I saw a picture she was hiding and she was standing next to a guy that had the same greying hair and had the same physique as he.”

“But that’s not even the craziest part,” Ayvah chirped.

“No, it’s not. When Mama Kaye booted me out…she was wearing a negligee under her morning robe.”

“Wait, so you mean to tell me not only is Mama Kaye hiding Stewart, but she’s also seeing him too.”

“I think the correct term is fucking him, Malf,” Ty remarked.

“Wait, is that even allowed in Elysium?” Cornelius asked.

“Elysium is just a utopia that is unattainable within the rest of the multiverse,” Ayvah started. “The residents can still have sex drives…they just can’t reproduce.”

“Makes sense to me,” Tre moaned.

“Wow, Mama Kaye knows a good thing when she sees it. I don’t blame her.”

“Okay, Ty. We all know that you two were more than friends. We don’t need to take a trip down memory lane though,” I assured.

“Wow, well I…”

“There’s no need to elaborate on your thoughts, Sir Malfus,” Her Infernal Majesty piped in.

“That affair is unimportant in this current situation. Madame Joanni and I have come to discuss the funeral of the early fallen Jeremy Gable Starr.”

“Right,” he quickly agreed before he motioned me to help him present our presentation. Unfortunately, everything went to shit and back right after I got up. Next thing we knew, Malf just straight up fainted and I noticed that he started having convulsions again and started foaming at the mouth.

“Oh my gosh! What’s going on?! What happened to him?!” Her Infernal Majesty screamed.

“He’s having a nightmare vision,” I whimpered. “He’s not breathing. Priya, what’s going on?!”

“This isn’t a normal nightmare vision. Whatever he’s seeing is happening right now. And he’s not breathing because he’s in both shock and limbo.”

“Limbo?” Madame Joanni asked.

“Whatever he’s seeing is making him quickly lose his humanity.”

“Well, what can we do?!” Her Infernal Majesty begged.

“You’ll just have to let him ride it out, Jodi,” Julious chimed in. “This is a battle he is forced to fight on his own since his conception.”

“No, I won’t let him suffer without trying to help him!”

“It’ll be okay, your majesty. Let’s just get him out of here,” I assured before Julious helped us bring him to his office and lay him down on his couch.

“How long is this gonna last?” Her Infernal Majesty asked.

“I don’t know. His future vision is more of a curse than a blessing. It depends on what the vision entails that determines the duration of it.”

“He’s shaking again,” I moaned before Her Infernal Majesty threw herself on him.

“Echo! You’re a healer. Help him.”

“I’m sorry, your majesty. I don’t know what to do. I don’t have his type of future vision.”

“Please be okay. Please be okay,” she cried over him.

“Jodi.”

“Stop, Julious. You know how I feel about both of you. I don’t want him to suffer. He’s suffered enough. I just want him to be happy.”

“I understand,” he moaned.

“Please wake up. I love you.” To my surprise, as soon as she said that, he started glowing and went back to his demon form but his blue skin was scar and bruise free. He slightly picked himself up before he noticed Her Infernal Majesty crying over him.

“Empress?”

“Malf? Oh my gosh, you’re okay!” she chirped before she hugged him.

“Yeah, I am. I love you too, by the way.”

“I know,” she chirped before she kissed his cheek. “What happened?”

“I was just having a vision…wait, Krishna…call Eric and Isaac.”

“Of course, brother,” he chirped before he left the room.

“What’s going on? What did you see?” Her Infernal Majesty asked.

“Eric and Isaac were supposed to be watching Hudson for me while he called this important meeting…unless Kate changed her plans.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Hey, brother. What do you want me to ask Eric and Isaac?”

“Are they watching Hudson?”

“No, they said that Kate picked him up. Why do you want to know?”

“Turn the news on.”

“What?” I asked.

“Turn the news on. In the adjacent room.”

“Okay,” Her Infernal Majesty answered back before she did what he said.

I wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on, but I did notice Her Infernal Majesty’s face change suddenly while she was watching it. I walked over to her and she threw herself on me trying to shield her tears. I looked at the TV and saw what I never thought I was going to see at this moment. It was Kate’s apartment engulfed in flames and the disclaimer said that they couldn’t find a trace of her body or the baby’s. My heart dropped when I saw that and Her Infernal Majesty looked up at me and said,

“What are we going to do? How are we going to save him? He’s suffered enough, Echo. He’s suffered enough.”

“So my vision was right,” he moaned while he walked behind us. “I didn’t want to believe it.”

“Oh, Malf, I’m so sorry,” Her Infernal Majesty moaned before she threw her arms around him.

“It was arson. One of Vlurgen’s goons,” he moaned.

“What?! Why?!” I gasped.

“Does it matter?! It’s Vlurgen. She goes out of her way to make my life and Vlad’s a living hell. She knows I’m a ticking time bomb and she wants me to burst. I can’t stay human forever. I’m Tiberius’ eldest son. I can’t keep the evil away forever. I deserve all of this anyway. I killed an innocent man. I deserve hell and more.”

“No you don’t. Don’t say that,” I screamed.

“You don’t deserve to suffer anymore,” Her Infernal Majesty moaned.

“I beg to differ. There’s nothing to mourn anyway. Vlurgen wiped them out of existence. Let’s just get back to the situation at hand. We’re here to say goodbye to Jeremy, we’re not here to worry about me.”

“But Malf…”

“With all due respect, your majesty, I would rather you forget about my suffering. My existence is a curse and a battle that I have to fight everyday. It’ll never change and you can’t change that. Just forget about me. I’m not that important. You said it yourself…Jeremy is the main concern for tonight,” he moaned before he walked out of the room.

“What do you know about Stewart’s new condition, Echo?” Her Infernal Majesty asked me suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. Is Stewart really being held by Mama Kaye?”

“I can’t tell you…”

“Yes, you can. You can trust me. I need to know. I just want to help him.”

“We both do, your majesty. But…”

“Echo, just tell me. Please.”

“Fine, yes. Yes. Jessamy was right.”

“Oh, thank you. That’s good to know.”

“Why?"

“I just need to know that he’s safe. I don’t know what to do anymore, Echo. We’re not Alice…and we’re sure as hell aren’t Stewart. He still feels guilty for what he did…and I probably didn’t help.”

“You only stated your opinion, your majesty. You never wanted us to resort to murder. I told him that he was forgiven, but it still bothers him.”

“He did something he didn't think he was capable of. He never thought he would let his evil side take control. He was better at balancing his duality. The point is, we at least need Alice. She’s the only other person that keeps him levelheaded.”

“I know. I never knew how much we would all miss Alice.”

“Jodi, Arjuna wanted me to give you this flash drive,” Julious announced after he handed it to me. “He adjourned the meeting and got Eric and Isaac to pick him up. He’s not in the most stable mindset to finish the meeting. Everyone else left too. I’m sorry, Jodi. Madame Joanni is waiting in the carriage and I decided to come and get you myself.”

“Thank you, babe. Please come with us, Echo. We can go over the finances ourselves.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

 

Next few days before the funeral were both emotionally heavy but also tiring. No one was really the same after what happened at the meeting. I mean the others cared but Malf forced Eric and Isaac to tell them not to come in whenever they tried to make sure he was okay. Not even Priya, Madeline, or Julious were allowed to see about him. From what I could tell, he was in mourning and he didn't want anyone to see him at his lowest point.

After that night, Her Infernal Majesty insisted I stay at the palace until the funeral was over so I did. I singlehandedly took over all of the planning and actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Unfortunately, I had to deal with an emotionally compromised empress throughout my planning as well. I mean Julious tried to keep her happy, but it would never work. And why would it? Three innocent people were killed by Vlurgen and her goons and one of her best friends was hurting and she couldn’t help him. And it kinda made me feel guilty.

Then there was the day of the funeral. I knew not to expect Malfus to come since he basically locked himself away from the world, but I still worried about Her Infernal Majesty. Like when it came time for us to get ready, she booted all of her servants and maids out and told me to stay to help her get ready. I obliged but I was in for a earful as soon as I humbly agreed.

“Echo, I’m really worried about Malfus still. I’ve never seen him so distraught before,” she moaned before I noticed a couple of razor scars on her left and right arm.

“Your majesty, have you been cutting yourself again?”

“Echo, I would wear his scars proudly. He doesn’t deserve to suffer. I want to endure all of his suffering for him. He’s been through enough.”

“Yes, I know. But you’ve been through enough suffering too. Let’s not forget what your brother did to you or the fact that you wear Shamael’s mark on your arm and neck and he betrayed you.”

“I know, Echo. I wear the tattoo of Shamael’s false love still,” she moaned before she caressed her own arm. “But I could never shun Joni either. His mind was corrupted and he lashed out.”

“He had no right to stab you though.”

“I know he didn’t,” she moaned before she touched the raised scar on her stomach. “But he’s already in hell, so what more could I do to him.”

“I guess you’re right. But you can’t take on every loved ones’ suffering. That’s why Malfus told you to stay out of it. He doesn’t want you to hurt yourself worrying about him in the process.”

“I can’t help how I am, Echo. But never mind all of that, though. Please help me get ready.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

After I helped get her ready, she ran out to meet up with everyone who was going to be walking into the courtyard for the precession. I was one of those people, so I ran behind her to get to my station too. I noticed all of the palace guards were surrounding Jeremy’s golden plated casket and four of them were going to be carrying him. Many women were standing as well with flowers in one hand and a handkerchief in the other to wipe the tears away. I found Skylar, Adair, and Deondra in the crowd but I never expected to see Ty and Jessamy there too. I slightly waved when I saw them but then went back to wondering if Her Infernal Majesty could put on a face for the hour long funeral. My thoughts were cut short though when the trumpeters and musicians started to play and lead the precession alongside Her Infernal Majesty, Madame Joanni, Julious, Princess Mika, and Princess  
Rachel. Most of the people weren’t paying that much attention to where they were walking because they were crying so much, so I ended up being throw towards Ty and Jessamy while we were still walking. None of us said anything to each other though, we just kept walking forward with the others. Then we entered the courtyard gates of the Underworld village and I noticed all of my other friends and loved ones sitting down and Maribel and Paulina were in the front row crying their eyes out. After the casket was placed, everyone went to their designated area and the funeral started. I, of course, was sitting on the same aisle as Ty, Evie, Jessamy, Ayvah, Xander, Sammy, and Satanya.

The funeral was closed casket because of his severe condition when he died. The guards were even instructed to bring the casket to the repass. The repass followed after in the Underworld Grand Palace within the grand ballroom. Ty, Evie, Jessamy, and I followed behind everyone else as we walked there in another precession. The guards laid the casket in front view for everyone to see and everyone went to a table once they walked in. We saw the table where Maribel, Paulina, Sammy, Satanya, Ayvah, Xander, Eric, and Isaac were sitting so we sat there.

“Sorry for your loss,” Evie told Maribel and Paulina as soon as we sat down. “I know I can’t make this situation better, but I brought a card.”

“Oh, thank you, Evie,” Maribel whined before Paulina took the card.

“We brought the clothes and stuff you bought us. You can have it back,” Paulina told.

“No, keep it,” Sammy insisted. “Miracles can happen. I believe that.”

“Okay,” Paulina moaned before she started reading Evie’s card.

“Hey Eric…Isaac. Where’s Priya and Madeline?” I asked.

“They’re watching Malfus. He actually let them come in,” Isaac answered.

“What? Wow, I can’t believe it.”

“How is he?” Satanya asked.

“Is something wrong with him?” Sammy asked with extreme concern.

“Not good. What happened yesterday was just the tipping point,” Eric answered.

“Well, what happened?”

“His fake wife and son died in an apartment fire,” Jessamy explained.

“I thought I told you that, mom.”

“Well, obviously you didn’t, Saya.”

“It was Vlurgen and her goons. They couldn’t find a trace of their bodies,” Ty added.

“It’s like she erased them from existence,” Ayvah moaned.

“Wow, that Vlurgen is a piece of work,” Evie moaned. “Well, I actually have something to give him too.”

“Her Infernal Majesty has been taking it hard too,” I moaned.

“She really cares about Malf,” Jessamy said. “I mean we all do. We’re all worried about him.”

“Well, you know how Her Infernal Majesty is. She’s had a hard life and she hates seeing others suffer too,” Sammy explained. “I mean she really loves and cares about you guys…like me and Evie.”

“Right, Sammy. I have to give you credit…all of you credit. You have to deal with all of the drama and chaos here and on Earth.”

“Yeah, your man does a lot.”

“Oh, stop it, Stephen.”

“Well, to my surprise, you actually behaved this whole time,” Jessamy told Ty.

“I came prepared. He was a mess at his mother’s funeral. I brought some of Mama Kaye’s cookies with me and the teddy bear he kept.”

“Wow, you’re always prepared for whatever Ty throws at you, huh?”

“Oh, you know it, Jess. But anyway, Echo, could you give John this?” she asked before she handed me a card.

“A card?”

“Yeah, we all went around and signed it. It’s just a little something that we did to make sure he knows that he’s loved and we care about him. We even got Her Infernal Majesty to sign it. Her message was the longest.”

“Oh, wow. That’s wonderful. I’ll give it to him when I try to see about him.”

“The card was all Evie’s idea too.”

“Thank you for giving me credit, honey. But it was my idea.”

“Well, that’s very thoughtful of you.”

“Hello everyone,” Her Infernal Majesty chirped.

“Hello, your majesty,” we all greeted back.

“Maribel, Paulina, I give you my blessing and my condolences.”

“Thank you,” they both whimpered.

“Evie?! Is that you?!”

“Yes, it’s me, your majesty,” she chirped back before they hugged each other.

“Oh my gosh. It’s been a minute. You look amazing.”

“Oh, thank you. I’ve been dying my roots again. It looks natural right?”

“Yes, of course it does. I’ve missed you.”

“Oh, I’ve missed you too. You haven’t aged a bit. You always look amazing.”

“Oh, thanks girl. So how are the kids?”

“Oh, they’re great. All on the honor roll. And Madeleine is in SGA now.”

“Well, that’s awesome. I’m so proud of them. Education is very important…especially college. I mean I didn’t go…but we can’t all be fabulous rulers, can we?”

“No, we sure can’t. But you are one of the best rulers I have ever known.”

“Thanks, girl.”

“I actually came as moral support for Stephen.”

“Oh, well how sweet. Eric, Isaac, how is Malf?”

“He’s doing better. He let Priya and Madeline in. That’s why we’re here in their place.”

“Oh, good. I want to see him again, but I should give him his space.”

“You could accompany me tomorrow. I’m gonna try and visit him then.”

“Okay, I’ll see if I’m available then.”

“I’ll leave you to it.”

 

After the funeral, I decided to stay at the Monokia Island Palace for the night to talk over all of what happened in the past few days. I figured my mother would give me the best advice about what to do. Unfortunately, she was very vague in her advice and she told me that I should probably just give him some space. But that wasn’t good enough for me. Something had to be done and I wasn’t just gonna sit around and let it run its course. It’s bad enough all of the Circle was worried about him, but Her Infernal Majesty was having a nervous breakdown herself and resorted back to cutting herself. Of course, I didn’t tell mother that. We were supposed to make sure that the empress was in her right mind and right now she wasn’t…which was highly justified. I mean not only is one of her closest friends hurting; but her husband…the man that she trusted with all of her heart, betrayed her. She had every right to be hurt.

But then something inside of me felt uneasy. I felt a disturbance in the air and I wasn’t gonna take that sitting down either. I followed my gut to the outskirts of our realm and then to NYC. My sense led me to Malfus’ apartment and I noticed a black shadow through the window. Upon a closer look, I noticed that the shadow started to take a more stable form and exposed light green skin, long flowing black and platinum blonde hair, and a tall and curvy physique. She snickered as she got closer to his form and then knocked over the picture of him and Alice he had on his nightstand. She bent down by his ear and started whispering something and I recognized it as her trying to give him a nightmare. I immediately jumped into action and broke his window by kicking it in and kicked her in the back which threw her across the room. I hoped she was unconscious, but I tried to retrieve the dark thoughts she implanted in his head while she was down.

Unfortunately, she didn’t stay down for long and bounced back up before throwing a beam of energy at me, knocking me down.

“Well, well, well, look who it is. Delvarus’ bastard child, Echo.”

“How do you know who I am?”

“My master enlightened me about you and all of your pawns. You’re a part of The Circle New York, right?”

“Who wants to know?”

“The name’s Veruca. I work for…”

“Vlurgen.”

“Wow, you’re really smart. But not that smart. Don’t you know your friend is trying to sleep? He had a long day…a long few days.”

“I know he’s trying to sleep and he doesn’t need you putting dark thoughts in his mind.”

“Oh, I see. You want me to feel bad for trying to accomplish my mission.”

“Why are you here?”

“Your friend is a powerful weapon. The more frustrated he gets, the more his evil side starts to rear its ugly head. That’s what he and your other friends don’t realize. They’re capable of so much damage but they refused to be who they really are and all to protect stupid humans like his precious little Kate he used to string around. Oh, her cries of agony were music to my ears.”

“You killed them…you started the fire.”

“Starting to catch on? Yes, I started the fire. It’s amazing what a little match made by humans can do. It caused so much damage. And they call us evil. Humans are the worst. They heard her screams for help and no one came to her rescue. And when people actually came to help, they were already wiped from existence.”

“You’re a monster. What do you want with Malfus anyway?”

“I already said he’s a powerful weapon. It’s time he embraced his dark side anyway. He always wanted to make his old man proud, wouldn’t that make him proud?”

“No, I won’t let you corrupt him. He isn’t his father.”

“He might as well be. He’s murdered many humans…including his dearest friend. He blew his cover on purpose. It was the thrill of killing innocence…something that runs through his veins. You all like to think he’s so good…when he really isn’t. He’s starting to embrace his dark side and I won’t let you interfere.”

“He would never blow his cover on purpose.”

“Oh, really? You call me a monster when your ‘brother’ killed one of his friends for the mission. Wasn’t your mission to help and protect humans…not kill them? I mean he could have just wiped his memory of the incident.”

“It was irrational thinking…but he is tormented with guilt.”

“Well, good. He should dwell within the guilt. Oh, wake up, Echo. With all of this chaos, he won’t be able to control his demon for much longer. He’s a ticking time bomb and he’s about to explode. And now that his precious Alice is out of the way, it won’t be long before he succumbs to his true destiny.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Echo,” she spewed before she attacked me again. She kept on shooting me with beams of energy and threw a couple of punches but I managed to kick her off of me and fight her back. But I guess she was a little stronger than me because she managed to knock me into his other nightstand and the other picture of Alice he had fell in my lap and the glass cracked.

“Oh, Echo, he’s weak. There’s no use in fighting for him. As long as Alice is gone, he’ll never save himself from his demon,” she teased again before she disappeared.

After she left, I surveyed the damage and try to restore everything to its original state. And to my surprise, he stayed asleep throughout the whole fight. I just smiled and picked up the two pictures of Alice left and fixed the glass that broke before putting them in their correct places. I was gonna leave after that, but I decided to see if I could implant some good thoughts in his head. But next thing I knew, everything went black.

A couple of lights flashed before my blinking eyes and I found myself in a park where the wind started to pick up. The sun was out though and the leaves started blowing and got caught up in the wind. I kept walking through the park until I stumbled upon something I wasn’t really expecting. I saw him sitting next to Alice on a picnic blanket and they were laughing together. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that his head was lying on her lap and she was working her fingers through his short hair while he was just talking to her.

That’s when I realized that I somehow warped into his dream. I had no idea how his dreams worked either, but I decided to hide behind a tree to not disturb them. But I could overhear them. Apparently, he was just venting to her and she was just trying to comfort him the best way she knew how. I mean it made me happy to see that he actually looked content in his fantasy…but at the same time it made me realize that neither me or Her Infernal Majesty were ever going to be on the same level as Alice. He placed her on a pedestal…in his eyes she was perfect. Priya even said it herself. Most of the things he did was to make Alice content even when she had no idea that he knew of her. She really was  
the only thing that kept him levelheaded. It made me realize that we needed her back more than ever now.

Somehow, I warped myself out of his dream and back into my old room at my home palace after my reflection ended. I looked over to my communicator and found a message from Her Infernal Majesty telling me that she would accompany me to visit him tomorrow. I just giggled to myself and smiled before I fell back to sleep, content, knowing that Malf was probably in a better state of mind.

 

The next morning, Her Infernal Majesty actually came to the palace to meet me. Of course, mother insisted that she stay and eat so she did before we headed out for Malfus’ place. Priya answered the door for us once we got there and she told us that he was in a better mood and that he was still in his room getting ready for the day. So we both walked over to his room, but the door was closed.

However, Her Infernal Majesty jiggled the door knob which slightly opened the door. So we both walked in, but he didn’t notice us. He was too busy hugging the picture of Alice he had in his arms. But there was something else that I noticed. He had a box of tissues and lotion on his nightstand and there were two small ice cream containers on the floor. And his TV was on, but the volume was down low.

“Did we come at the wrong time?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, hey guys,” he jumped before he put the picture back down on the nightstand. “Did they let you in? They know I’m not descent.”

“Oh, that’s what I figured,” Her Infernal Majesty moaned.

“Just give me five minutes.”

“Sure, we can do that,” I assured before we left and went back to the den. Priya and Madeline were cuddling on the sofa watching Steven Universe and giggling amongst themselves.

“Oh my gosh! I love this episode!” Her Infernal Majesty chirped before she sat down in the recliner.

“So did you actually know that he wasn’t descent?” I asked them.

“Yeah, we did. He’s probably mad. He’s been like this all morning. He was going on about having a really good dream about Alice or something,” Priya explained.

“Oh, Winona. How you like to torment your brother,” Her Infernal Majesty teased.

“It’s just too much fun not to, your majesty.”

“Okay, I’m descent now,” he assured as he walked into the room before we noticed that he was wearing a Steven Universe star shirt under a wrinkly red flannel shirt that he left unbuckled and some denim cargo shorts.

“Wow, isn’t that the shirt that Alice got you for your 39th birthday?” Madeline asked.

“She also got me an Ice Bear shirt.”

“Right.”

“Also, fuck you,” he told Priya. You knew I wasn’t descent.”

“It’s not my fault you’ve been jacking off to Alice’s picture all morning because of the amazing dream you had last night.”

“Fuck off,” he spewed. “You can come back now. After you, your majesty…Echo.”

“Malf, put it on Cartoon Network. Priya and Madeline are watching one of my favorite episodes of Steven Universe.”

“As you wish, your majesty,” he chirped before he turned the channel and handed her the remote.

“So you seem better,” I moaned.

“Yeah, as best as I can be,” he moaned before he scratched the back of his head. “I’m a leader. I have to stay strong…no matter how broken I am.”

“But your emotions and feelings are so valid,” Her Infernal Majesty insisted.

“I know that, your majesty.”

“I actually brought something for you…well, we both did,” I assured before I dug in my bag and pulled the items out. “Evie was at Jeremy’s funeral to be Ty’s moral support and she wanted me to give you this card. Also, Reina Alejandra gave the empress this doll that Princesa Mariela made to give to you as well.”

“Thank you,” he said before he took both of the items. “Is this supposed to be Alice?”

“Yeah, it is. Princesa Mariela heard about your situation and wanted to help make you feel better. We all know how much you miss Alice, so whenever you really miss her or feel lonely, you can just keep this with you.”

“She painstakingly crocheted that doll together,” Her Infernal Majesty added. “Reina Alejandra told me that she hopes that you really like it.”

“I do like it. Tell her I said thank you. I really appreciate it. I’m just gonna put it by her picture,” he said before he actually did what he said. Next, he just looked over the cover which I didn’t really look and he started to snicker a little to himself. I was confused until I looked over his shoulder and noticed that Ayvah drew the cover of it and it was all of The Circle New York and Maribel and Paulina surrounding him with open arms as he was standing up with his hands covering his face. Then I noticed that she added Stewart and Alice above with open angel wings over everyone. Then I also saw that she put her message at the bottom of the illustration. It read,

**_Hey, Malf. I’m sorry that you’re going through all of this heartbreak and pain. I just want you to know that I love you and I’m always thinking about you. I really care about you and I hope you’ll be okay. I hope this picture and card will always brighten up your day whenever you see it. Also, thank you for all that you do for both the humans and my siblings. They really love and care about you too and really look up to you. You’re wonderful and don’t you ever forget that._ **

**_P.S. Stewart would be so proud of you and forgives you for your mistake. He could never hate you._ **

**_Love Always, Lady Ayvah Kate Siciliano_ **

He didn’t say anything after he read it, but I could tell that he was moved by what she said. He started crying a little too, although he was trying to play it off. Once he opened the card, he noticed all of other messages that we put in the card but a picture also fell out and he picked it up and I saw that it was a picture of us at the founding of The Circle New York in our old headquarters. He flipped it over and it was Ty’s message on it (I guess it was fitting because he had his arm around him on the picture and they both looked happy). It read,

_**Hey Malf…Arjuna…John…Johnny O….well whatever you go by now, I can’t help but remember when were tight…when we were as close as brothers. I have to be honest, you’re probably one of the most amazing people I’ve ever been lucky to know. I remember when we were both just two dreamers…two equal parts in our Earth Pact. I still remember how happy you were to start your own journey on Earth…how happy you were to have a chance to start over. I was so happy for you because I found something better than my past life and I hoped that you would too. I know that you had more roadblocks than me in your Earth experience, but I can’t help but say I’m proud of how much you learned and how much you grew despite the haters. And when I found out that you would be working for Stewart like me before you, I was so excited for you. I know that we haven’t had the same relationship because of him and the fate that we assigned to him, but it was wrong for me to hold this grudge as long as I did. I was just as much in the wrong as you. It was the heat of the moment and you didn’t know what to do. I shouldn’t have hated you for the mistake you made. I know now that Stewart wouldn’t want us to fight like this or hate each other. He would want us to stick together and become stronger. So I just want to apologize for how much of a jerk I’ve been and I want to finally say that I forgive you and I’ve decided to drop my grudge. I’m sorry, little bro. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that you’ve had to suffer these past few days. I wish you well. Don’t give up the fight. I love you man.** _

_**Sincerely, Sir Tyrus Radcliffe Adams aka Stephen Tyrone Colbert** _

“Wow, I…I…thank you. Thank you so much,” he cried before he threw his arms around me and started to cry more.

“Oh, you’re welcome.”

“I can’t believe Ty isn’t mad at me anymore. I can’t believe you guys did this for me.”

“Well, it was Evie’s idea,” Her Infernal Majesty remarked.

“That woman’s a saint,” he moaned.

“We already told you, Malf. We all love and care about you. You can’t give up. We won’t let you give up,” I insisted. “Never forget that.”

“You’ve done so much for us. Don’t you know that? You give so many hope. I mean have you seen Alice’s tumblr? Those girls love you.”

“Well, for more than just giving them hope, your majesty. But the point is, you’re important and we would be nowhere without you.”

“We love you, Sir Malfus Arjun-Padma de Olivier,” Her Infernal Majesty insisted before she hugged him too.

“I love you guys too,” he moaned.

“Hey, I hate to break up the love fest, but Madeline and I just made muffins and we wanted to know if you guys wanted any?”

“Not right now,” Malfus and I both said.

“Ooh, I’ll take one, Winona.”

“Okay, your majesty. Follow me.”

“Echo, what do you know about Veruca?” he asked as soon as Her Infernal Majesty left with Priya.

“What are you talking about?”

“I know you were here last night. I heard everything. But I was too busy trying to spend time with the Alice my mind made up in my dreams.”

“All I know is that she works for Vlurgen and she wants to corrupt you. She was here to give you nightmares. Then she called you a powerful weapon or something.”

“Figures. Vlurgen isn’t the only one that wanted to corrupt me. I’m the only halfbreed that many other demons want to corrupt. They’re aware of how powerful I am. I am a powerful weapon.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m the most powerful halfbreed in existence. If I let my evil side win, I could eradicate the whole human race. And that’s what Vlurgen wants. There’s a war brewing, Echo. I know you can feel it too. That’s why I stopped having contracted entertainers killed. Every time I sacrifice a human, my evil side becomes stronger. I have to keep it at bay. I want to help the humans, not hurt them. But I love the thrill of the kill. I love suffering…but I want to deny myself that to keep my humanity. I’m really a monster, Echo. That’s why I need Alice back. Her good nature is the only thing to counteract my evil side. She levels me.”

“Wow, this is serious.”

“The purebloods are rebelling now too. Violet, another one of Vlurgen’s goons, freed Shalone from her entrapment in the second dimension and is planning to break Lance and Zelda out of the Underworld Dungeon when the time is right. The Empress is in danger now so we have to protect her at all costs.”

“No, no, this can’t be happening.”

“It is. We need Alice now more than ever. We have to counteract everything that Vlurgen, Shalone, and Sir William throws at us…including Veruca and Violet.”

“I understand now, brother.”

“I have another question though.”

“What?”

“How did you end up in my dream last night?”

“I honestly don’t know. I really don’t know how it happened. I was trying to intercept the nightmares that Veruca was trying to implant and put good dreams in their place and then next thing I knew I was in your dream.”

“Strange. Seems like something Steven would do,” he moaned.

“Yeah, I had no idea I turned into Steven Quartz Universe.”

“Alice should have gotten you a shirt too,” he giggled.

“What’s so funny? Did I miss something?” Her Infernal Majesty asked after she came back into the room while eating a muffin.

“No, it’s nothing. Just an inside joke between brother and sister,” Malfus answered.

“Well, alright you two,” she snickered before she went back to watching the TV. “I’m just glad you’re feeling a little better now, Malfus.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“I’m worried for the empress,” I telepathically told Malfus. “She can’t take anymore heartbreak and it’s coming…unfortunately.”

“Her and me both, fair sister. Her and me both.”


End file.
